As the Essendon players headed to the rooms at half-time on Sunday at the MCG, coach James Hird grabbed his players on the north-side wing.

He pulled the group together, which contained 12 players who were making their finals debut, and addressed them briefly as the Carlton players walked off the ground and the Auskickers swarmed on.

The scoreboard blared a 41-point lead to Carlton, and the stats sheet said Essendon had recorded 21 less contested possessions than its opponent in two quarters of football.

The Bombers had been simply overwhelmed in the quarter that had just ended, after an opening stanza where they broke even in the midfield and trailed by just over one straight kick.

Hird's message was simple; he told his players not to give up, to just ""keep competing and doing the basics"", as things could always swing and change in the game of football.

Despite the coach's impromptu address before his main one was delivered inside the MCG change rooms, the Bombers failed to emerge a more composed outfit and were eventually outmuscled on the way to Carlton's 62-point win.
 
 
Afterwards, the message was different; part reflective, part praise, and part directive to what had to happen next.

""He said that we've improved this year and this is a stepping stone to what we want to achieve,"" Angus Monfries said after the game.

""We've just got to get back on the horse, keep our heads up and look forward to the pre-season.""

Monfries said there was no particular reason the Bombers fell away so dramatically after they kicked the first three goals of the game.

He said last week's bye was irrelevant, and was more than required with many players sore as the home and away season drew to a close.

And, the Bombers genuinely believed they were better placed to push beyond the first week of finals than they were two years ago when Adelaide thrashed them by 96 points in an elimination final at AAMI Stadium.

""I guess to play a final in Melbourne against a big rival, you're always a chance,"" Monfries said.

""We played pretty good footy in that first quarter and then they got on top of us in the second quarter and ran away with it.""
 
Heath Hocking provided the Bombers with a rare win on the day, with his run-with role against Chris Judd keeping the Carlton skipper to 19 possessions.

He did everything he could to curtail the in-form midfielder and Brownlow Medal favourite, but like most of his contemporaries, left the MCG on Sunday with a bitter taste in his mouth.

""We've improved over the season and we've come from a long way back, and I think besides not coming out yesterday and performing, we've done a good job of the improving and we've got to keep improving and go into next season,"" Hocking said.

""But you just can't feel happy about today.""

Still, the action of playing into September when nine other teams went on holidays a week ago can't be considered a worthless exercise.

Going into the game, just Monfries, Hocking, Watson, Dustin Fletcher, David Hille, Michael Hurley, Nathan Lovett-Murray, Mark McVeigh, Tayte Pears and Brent Stanton had played in a final before.

Now, another 12 Bombers can say they have.

There's another long summer ahead for the group, with Hird flagging afterwards there will be a strong focus on improving the players' strength after they were so easily pushed aside by the more-hardened Blues.

Hird also spoke about how success stemmed from failure, and how he hoped his players would never want to feel the hurt they felt just after 5pm on Sunday again.

While the next week is sure to be full of 'what ifs' and 'why nots' as the club lets the dust settle, Monfries agreed the experience was sure to better the group long-term.

""It's disappointing to have a year like we've had and really improve but to let ourselves down in a final,"" Monfries said.

""It's disappointing to play the way we played yesterday but it's a step in the right direction to play in a final and on a big stage in front of 90,000 people and we're going to be better for that experience.

""I think you can only be better from playing against an arch rival like Carlton so it's going to hopefully hold us in good stead for years to come.""