Essendon has built a solid foundation ahead of the final five games of the season that could catapult the team into a finals berth according to midfielder Brendan Goddard.
The Bombers have won six of their last eight games, including three in a row, after their seven-point win over the Western Bulldogs on Sunday.
“Probably more than a month now, our last six weeks have been pretty solid,” Goddard said.
“We haven’t gotten over the line in a couple of games, but I thought our performances have been pretty solid.”
“We’ve got a good foundation now and it’s important coming into the finals that we are in really good form.”
Essendon are far from a lock for finals this year, and the stand-in captain emphasised that the group is well aware of the situation at hand.
“I shouldn’t say finals because we’re not there yet, but we need to play out the latter part of the season in really good form and I think that’s really important,” Goddard said.
“There’s five weeks to go and we play a couple of really good opposition teams in the top eight, so it’s going to be interesting, but we’re doing what we can and the guys are preparing well and really focused on the job.”
Goddard was relived to get the win over the Bulldogs despite what he called a ‘so-so’ contest.
“The game was so-so to be honest. I thought we played alright, but it wasn’t a great performance in probably the first three quarters,” he said.
“But that was the good thing, we were able to hang in for most of the game.”
“It was a credit to the guys who have been in that situation with a close finish a number of times and failed in getting the four points.”
“It was good to get over the line.”
Once again Jason Winderlich dominated in his new role across the half backline, which has now become a common theme across Essendon’s patch of good form.
Goddard also jumping on the bandwagon that the move could potentially extend the 29-year-old’s career.
“He’s been terrific for the past month with his new role down back, he is really relishing that and it’s got him a new lease on life, he might be able to play for a couple more years.”
