Essendon midfielder Devon Smith says not all is lost following the side’s disappointing eight-point loss to reigning premier Richmond at the MCG on Sunday.
The Bombers piled on the last four goals of the match to make a desperate lunge at the Tigers, but ultimately fell agonisingly short.
While immensely disappointed about the result and its implications on the season, Smith said there was still plenty for the Bombers to take out of the narrow defeat following a poor 71-point loss to the Tigers in round 11.
“They’re the best and we knew we needed to win and it’s disappointing to get so close, but at the same time it’s a huge positive to give the premiers from last year – and maybe even (upcoming) back-to-back premiers – a real run,” Smith said post-game.
“I thought we played our style of footy, which is a massive difference to when we played them earlier in the year.”
Friday’s clash once again proved the Bombers can take it up to the league’s best sides, which has been a key feature of Essendon’s back half of the year, and Smith said the team has faith that they, too, can be a leading contender moving forward.
“I think we’ve got that belief in our group. We shot ourselves in the foot with a slow start to the year, but we’ve got our identity now going forward,” he said.
As for most of the season, Smith was one of Essendon’s shining lights on Friday, gathering 28 disposals, 18 contested possessions, nine clearances and a goal.
The former Giant is a leading contender for the Crichton Medal after his outstanding inaugural year at The Hangar, but he admitted he is feeling the pinch at the tail end of the season.
“It’s been a long year for myself personally, (I have played) 21 games now and I haven’t done that since my first year.
“If you’re not sore at this time of the year, you haven’t played hard enough.”
A clear highlight of the game was a break-out performance from young gun Aaron Francis, who read the play like a veteran, picking off attack after attack with his brilliant intercept marking.
Smith praised the eighth-gamer, who raked in eight marks (four contested) and had 13 disposals at an efficiency of 84.6 per cent.
“It’s good to see Franga back happy and playing footy. He’s only 21-years-old, I actually found that out the other day.
“The sky is the limit and I don’t know how many marks he took, but it’s a massive positive for the footy club.”
While the prospect of taking part in the finals appears over for the side, Smith expects the Bombers to stay focused on hitting back against Port Adelaide at the Adelaide Oval next Friday.
“We’ll lick our wounds, we can’t get bitter about it.
“We’ve just got to front up on Sunday and hopefully go to Adelaide and get a win, finish on a high and take that into the pre-season.”
