Coach James Hird had a simple message for the players, they needed to get more numbers to the contest.
“We stripped it back and though we were getting dominated around the contest,” midfielder Brendon Goddard said.
“If we were able to win it from there we were able to get the ball in our half because they literally had us hemmed in and we couldn’t get out of there forward half in that first half.
“It was all about the contest and winning it around there.”
Captain Jobe Watson said by the time the team had reached three quarter time the belief had risen.
“I was confident at three quarter time that the guys were going to give something extra and we were able to do that,” Watson said.
“At three quarter time we found ourselves back in it and we weren’t doing anything extraordinary we were just fighting a little harder than what we were in the first half.
Big man Patrick Ryder snapped a magnificent goal off his left boot with just 80 seconds left on the clock to put the Bombers in front by a goal.
Midfielder David Zaharakis said once Ryder kicked that goal his was confident his team could hold on.
“At three quarter time Hirdy spoke about how well we had played in that quarter and the way we had turned the game around then in the last quarter it went from the hairs sticking up on my neck to being really nervous,” Zaharakis said.
“They missed a couple of chances and we got lucky in the end and when Paddy kicked that goal at the end that is when the hair’s really stood up on the neck.”
Essendon is now sitting a top the AFL ladder having won their first three matches of the season.
