Essendon assistant coach, Ashley Prescott, has said that the Bombers need to be able to reward themselves in front of goal if they are to be serious finals contenders this year.
Speaking on Weekend Rewind, Prescott highlighted the Bombers’ inaccurate kicking in the first quarter and the lack of defensive pressure throughout the game as major factors in last Friday's loss to Collingwood.
“We got smashed in the second quarter, it was like we fell asleep, lost it by 37 points- we outscored them by very small margins in the other quarters but still I thought our intensity was lacking across the game,” he said.
“Collingwood were a hell of a lot more desperate and ran a lot harder then us, these are the most important recipes for success in football.
“It is certainly deflating when you take the ball forward but don’t score the points, but also our defence all over the ground was particularly poor, we let Collingwood get too many easy possessions.
“I think our attention to detail in not really picking a man up and playing hard on direct opponents hurt us.”
Prescott said the upcoming game against Sydney is ‘massive’ as the Bombers set their sights on the finals and the likely inclusions of Mark McVeigh and Jobe Watson will really boost the midfield stocks.
“I would say both Jobe and Mark will be certain starters this week,” he said.
“We haven’t gone into it in depth yet, but Jobe pushed pretty hard late last week to play – and went pretty close- so we certainly expect him to continue that and play this week.
“We need to get McVeigh back into the side, we haven’t sat down as a match committee yet but I’m sure Matthew will be keen to get him back.”
