Essendon captain Dyson Heppell says no one is hurting more than the players after the club’s disappointing 13-point loss to Carlton on Saturday.
It was the Blues’ first victory of the year as the Bombers slumped to their sixth loss in seven games and further damaged their finals hopes.
“It is extremely frustrating. I know fans and members are extremely frustrated and we’re right with you…we’re hurting more than anyone,” Heppell said post-match.
“We need their support more than ever as well. We need to stick together as a collective and can’t go pointing fingers, can’t go blaming, we just stick tight and grit through this period together.”
Heppell said it is crucial for the side to stay united as it pushes through its tough start to the season after entering it with such high expectations.
“We need to stick together as much as we possibly can right now.
“We’re all in it together and we just need to focus on improving our individual games and then bringing that together as a collective.
“It’s just not jelling as a group the way we would have liked and (it was) another very frustrating day.”
The captain must now ensure to sustain the motivation of his teammates, and he said he would do that in a number of ways.
“I’m going to maintain my positivity around the club, come in with a smile on my face and I’ll go to work to improve.
“I’ll try and help younger players work on their game, I’ll have a focus on just trying to keep everyone tight and really challenge the group and try and get everyone working individually to improve their game.”
Essendon now stares at a difficult three-week period against premiership fancies Geelong, GWS and Richmond, but Heppell said he would embrace the challenge.
“We still need to have a belief that we can go out and perform at a level that can compete with the best sides in the comp,” he said.
“This is what you want, you want to play against the best sides. Yeah, we are a bottom-of-the-rung side at the moment, but your season can really turn quickly and I truly believe that.
“And what a great opportunity, we can go and attack these sides with nothing to lose, show that real care and effort for each other, keep the message very simple and basic, and focus on playing your role and we’ll see what we can do.”
