Champion Essendon defender Dustin Fletcher says the emerging group of Bombers need to take responsibility for the club’s dismal showing in yesterday’s Anzac Day encounter.
“We are not overly comfortable with the coach copping all of the blame because when we are out there, there are 22 guys out there and you need most guys playing alright in the team and we haven’t had that,” Fletcher said.
“We have had three or four boys playing alright and you can’t win footy games by doing that.
The 35-year-old said the Bombers allowed the Magpies too much room too early which ultimately cost them the game.
“The performance just wasn’t there. They kicked away early and from then on I thought we were okay but we can’t give up six or seven goals the way we did so it was a bit disappointing,” he said.
“The boys were a little bit down on confidence early on and were handballing to blokes who were standing still and I suppose watching it from the crowd it doesn’t look good.
“I guess it comes back to getting a bit more confidence in our kicking game and I think we will come back out here on the track and get some confidence back leading into next weekend’s game.
Next Saturday night’s game against the Hawks now looms as a make or break game for the Bombers with both sides sitting 1-4.
“They lost again on the weekend too so it is going to be a big game,” Fletcher said.
“We have to worry about us and do the things that we know we can do well. We still need to find that exciting type of footy and we will see how we go from there.”
Fletcher encouraged supporters to stick with the team as they rebuild.
“We need them to stand with us because we need their support and we are going to do our best,” he said.
“I understand it’s hard for the supporters to come and watch. It was a big day yesterday and we didn’t perform.
“We obviously want the supporters to keep supporting us and doing what they can but we are going to lift this week and doing what we need to do to improve.”
Essendon's 'home' match on Saturday night against Hawthorn is also a designated ‘home’ match for Hawks General Admission (GA) members because they play four home games in Tasmania so get the opportunity to attend four ‘away’ matches in Melbourne as ‘home’ matches.
As such, all Essendon Bronze GA members should get to the game as early as possible to ensure they get a seat in the GA designated area.
