Essendon coach Mark Thompson learnt a lot about his playing group over the past two weeks following a close loss to Geelong and Saturday night’s thrilling win over Port Adelaide.
An honest approach from the players following the loss to Geelong was the catalyst for changes in behaviour against the Power.
Thompson said getting the four points against Port Adelaide was vital for the mind set of his side.
“It is great to see improvement, it is great to see reward,” Thompson said.
“If you don’t get the reward how long do they endure? How much do they believe?”
“I learnt that people can change if you identify it and they get the support and help.”
“What you need is little victories like this along the way, they are fantastic and it makes people grow.”
Thompson narrowed his focus down after the match praising Courtney Dempsey for his turn around in form over the last few weeks.
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“Courtenay Dempsey used to revert to something I didn’t particularly like to try and get himself back in the game and respected by his teammates,” Thompson said.
“He used to rush down the ground as early as he could to get a goal and have that influencing play where he would kick or set up a goal.”
“I like it when he just plays, his teammates like it when he just plays on an opponent and beats him in contests, tackles and then handballs to someone to get them on their way.”
“That’s what his teammates told him, he is doing it and he is getting all the slaps on the back tonight.”
“You just know that you are making progress.”
A number of positional changes also had an impact in Saturday night’s victory with Jason Winderlich and Brent Stanton both spending considerable amounts of time in the defensive half.
