James Hird believes the Bombers will benefit from a week off after what has been an emphatic first half of the season.
Speaking to the media following the loss to the West Coast Eagles, Hird believed that the bye came at both a good and bad time for the team.
“Certainly when you lose you like to you want to get back on the horse and work,” he said
“It’s been a long first half of the year and it’s been a long couple of years so I think the players need a break.
“The guys will get four or five days off and then we’ll get back into some hard work.”
The Bombers were dominated in the clearances after deciding to go into the game without a recognised ruck man with the Eagles winning hit-outs by a commanding 73-28.
When asked about the decision, Hird praised the efforts of the inexperienced trio in Carlisle, Daniher and Ambrose but recognised that it was always going to be an uphill battle.
“We knew we had a struggle against us without a recognised ruckman… in the end (it) was just too far out of whack to compete in that area,” Hird said
“We didn’t really have another option, the way that Tommy was playing was unacceptable.”
In positive news for the club, Bellchambers, McKernan and Giles all had good performances for Essendon VFL in their big win over Frankston yesterday.
“McKernan kicked 5 in the reserves today, Tommy kicked four and Jonathan Giles kicked 3 and we definitely won the tap-outs. But it’s a different story against Frankston in the VFL,” Hird said.
Bellchambers found himself a part of the Essendon VFL side after a slow start to the season, unable to prove damaging in the contest. Hird is positive that his time in the seconds will be exactly what the big man needs to reignite his season.
“It’s not about punishing a player,” he said
“It’s about getting a player back into form and working at a certain level until they’re ready to come back and play.”
The Eagles were able to move the ball freely after winning the clearance putting the Essendon backline under immense pressure as they entered their attacking 50 a total of 55 times for the afternoon.
It was this relentless pressure that would unravel the Essendon strategy as the Bombers were forced to drop additional numbers behind the ball in an attempt to counteract the free-moving Eagles, in turn putting additional pressure on the forward structures.
“A lot of today we weren’t able to play with even numbers in our forward line, that effects the way you score.” Hird said
Despite only scoring 13 goals in the last two weeks, Hird saw many positives coming out of what is a young and experienced forward line.
He was particularly pleased with the efforts of Shaun Edwards, with the youngsters’ speed and tenacity around the ball providing much excitement for the Essendon fans.
“I thought (Edwards) gave us something, a bit of spark.” said Hird
“He kicked a couple of goals, so that was a positive out of that.”
Now slipping to 13th spot on the ladder with four wins from seven games, Essendon will require a big second half of the season if they are any chance to make finals at the end of the year.
The club will benefit from the return of experienced players such as Heath Hocking, David Myers, Jason Winderlich and David Zaharakis following the bye.
Missing the majority of the season so far Hird believes that both Myers and Hocking will be important to the teams’ structure, allowing them to focus more on getting the right numbers around the ball and creating more of a contest.
“Hopefully with those two players (Hocking and Myers) returning, we’ll have more pressure around the ball and give our forwards more opportunity,” he said.
The Bombers will return after the bye to another big challenge as they take on the Hawks.
