An all-round approach is what’s needed of Essendon if they’re any chance of matching Coburg on Sunday, according to interim coach Paul Corrigan.
At 2-1, the Lions have had the better start to the season as opposed to the Bombers, and look a very poised team at the early stages of the year.
“I’ve watched a little bit of them, they do seem a pretty balanced side,” Corrigan said.
“They’ve got a good blend of some good talls and smalls up forward, some good midfielders as well who like to get back to help out and move the ball out of the backline.
“We’re going to have to be well drilled across all areas on Sunday and hopefully we can play our game style and really bring it to Coburg and play it well.”
A mid-game lapse ultimately cost the Bombers the game last week, after matching it with Casey up until half-time last weekend. Corrigan emphasised that the side has been well drilled throughout the week on to ensure there’s not a re-occurrence of the same on Sunday.
“I think when you look at the third quarter last week, both VFL and AFL games had similar trends in them.
“A lot of accountability and defensive transition lapses occurred, so we’ve made that the focus this week to be more consistent in those areas and hopefully we can rectify those things and go back to our Collingwood game a few weeks ago where we defended really well.”
Young-forward Jayden Laverde has made considerable progress early in his first season, continuing to impress coaches with his work ethic and desire to learn. Corrigan said he’s thrilled with the development shown by Laverde so far , admitting he could well fellow in the footsteps fellow first-year Don Kyle Langford who made his AFL debut last weekend.
“Jayden has been progressing really well. He’s continuing to adapt and learn the game and how we want to play.
“Whether it is in a couple of weeks (that he plays AFL), or however long it takes, his progression just needs to keep going forward– and he’s definitely going about it the right way at the moment.”
In an exciting move, the Essendon VFL live radio is back bigger and better this week– Corrigan declaring it a great avenue for fans to follow their favorite VFL team.
“It’s a great way for the fans who can’t get to the game to listen to our game, and hopefully we get a fair few people following and listening on Sunday.”
