Tom Bellchambers has kept his name at the front of the match committee’s mind after a strong VFL performance against Geelong.
The ruckman showed he could also be an asset in attack, finishing the game with three goals.
The Dons had a slow start to the match, going into the first break two goals behind the Cats.
Bellchambers said the side were happy with their first quarter efforts, although the scoreboard was not reflecting that.
“We didn’t think we were playing too bad at quarter time. Geelong took their opportunities going forward, when we missed a couple of ours,” Bellchambers said.
“It (game plan) was to stick to what we were doing. We knew if we played that way for the full game, we would run over the top of them. Which we did in the end.”
Essendon remained composed and went on to dominate the final three quarters, kicking five unanswered goals in the second term.
“From the last six or seven weeks that I’ve played with the group, that was probably the best performance,” he said.
Essendon had a total of 72 inside 50s, 111 marks and 100 tackles.
“We stuck to what we wanted to do for the full game. To have as many inside 50s as we did and to restrict them to 25 inside 50s is really pleasing.”
Inaccuracy in front of goals has been a major talking point after Essendon finished with eight goals, 14 points against Port Melbourne and nine goals, 20 points against Werribee.
The Bombers have been working on the fundamentals of the game at training, which was evident after they kicked 17 goals and 14 behinds finishing with a total of 116 points on Saturday.
“There has been an emphasis on skills at training over the last couple of weeks and that really came out today,” Bellchambers said.