There was plenty to like about Essendon’s performance in the VFL practice match against Geelong for coach Dan Jordan.
The Bombers controlled Sunday’s clash at Central Reserve in Colac from start to finish, opening with a six goal to two first quarter and going on to win 14.10 (94) to 6.9 (45).
As the match was Jordan’s first competitive hit-out at Essendon, the coach cast a keen eye over how his players executed their game plan.
“It was our first hit-out with AFL and VFL boys and it was pleasing to see that for the most parts we set up fairly well some of the things we’ve been trying to implement over the pre-season in terms of structure in terms of the guys who are new to the club can take a while.
“It was good to see them setting up well and trying to implement our ball-moving principles,” Jordan said.
“We weren’t really looking at the outcome in terms of win-loss, we just wanted to get our process and our structure right.
“We’ve still got a couple of practice matches to go before the season proper so first time everyone was playing together it’s important to get them on the same page.”
The clash with the Cats was the first chance for new Bombers to strut their stuff against the coach and Jordan praised AFL rookie Trent Mynott and first-year draftee Jordan Houlahan who “acquit themselves fairly well”.
“For me, it’s to be able to have some consistency across four quarters. It will be interesting to see if we can maintain the game plan across four quarters in terms of when we get fatigued and fall away,” he said.
“It was a good step in the right direction on the weekend, but it was only 25-minute flat quarters and also there were a lot more numbers on the bench. That will be something we take into in terms of guys’ fitness and ability to run out games.”
Essendon will not have another practice match until Sunday March 24, when the Bombers travel to Werribee, so Jordan is now reflecting on ironing out the wrinkles before his side takes on Frankston in Round 1 on April 7.
“It was a fairly consistent effort, although I thought we dropped away in the latter part of the second quarter.
“I thought we had a strong finish, which is something we can take as momentum into our next game.
“We’ve got the week off, so we can build into our next practice match and tinker with a few things there.”
