The VFL Bombers will be stripping it back to the basics Saturday afternoon against Richmond after a lackluster start last weekend.
Essendon trailed the Northern Blues by 25 points at the main break before turning it around in the second half.
“We drilled it back to what we wanted for the boys last week and how we wanted to play,” VFL interim coach Paul Corrigan said.
“And we’ve had the same focus areas this week in training and hopefully they can bring them out for the start of the game tomorrow.”
The Bombers have struggled with a number of issues this season, one being consistency– Corrigan pin-pointing the lack of to two main areas.
“I think it’s more work rate and adapting.
“We talk about effort a lot, and sometimes the effort is there and sometimes the decisions they were making isn’t quite there as well.
“But after halftime I thought they brought the effort from the whole team and they produced what we wanted to produce and they played the Essendon way.
That’s all we can ask for and hopefully they can bring it for four quarters this week.”
Richmond presents a similar challenge to their AFL counterparts, being a highly capable side on their given day.
“Obviously they’re a good side, they’ve got some good midfielders and they can be quite tall up forward, so our backs will have their hands full.
“It’s always in at the contest, so if we can get our hands on the footy first and getting it moving forward and give our forwards first opportunity that will be a real plus for us.”
Nick O’Brien is expected to lead from the front throughout the middle tomorrow, with the ultra-reliable midfielder avenging 27.8 disposals this season.
“He’s just been super consistent.
“He’s one of those guys you can rely on week-in week-out to get the job done. But what else he brings to the side is just his leadership. He’s able to command the troops on game day and he was probably one of the guys who got the team going again in the second half last week.
“Hopefully he can bring more of it tomorrow and continue his consistent form he’s shown for the first half of the season.”
Forward Kyle Hardingham leads the VFL goal kicking this season, and continues to be a huge asset for the Dons.
“He’s been involved at Essendon for a number of years now and he’s brought his experience to VFL level
“He has been just fantastic for the young guys up forward like Kyle Langford, Jayden Laverde, Conor McKenna and Jake Long. He’s able to be a coach for us out on the ground in helping us set up and talking to the young guys like that on game day.”
You can catch the round seven clash between Essendon and Richmond LIVE on Channel Seven from ME Bank Centre from 12pm Saturday.
