The Bombers’ progression this season won’t necessarily be linear with a developing playing list, according to general manager of football Josh Mahoney.
Facing a red-hot Port Adelaide outfit on Saturday at Adelaide Oval, Essendon fielded the youngest and least experienced team across the competition, with Mahoney highlighting the demographic of the Bombers’ youthful playing list in 2021.
“We’ve got a lot of players who haven’t yet reached their potential, (but we’ve) also got a group of about 15 players who haven’t played a game and that’s a big chunk of your list – almost a third of our list,” Mahoney told 3AW Sportsday on Monday night.
“So, when we’re judging our list this year, the scoreboard has to be part of it. It has to be about wins and losses, but also other elements like how many players improve throughout the year, and how does our game style start to take shape through the year.
“With those end two (measures), they’re not linear improvements so we’re going to have days where we start to see good signs, and then days when you think you fall backwards, but that will be the balance this year for our supporters and that’s been our discussions as to where we are at.”
Despite a horror day on the Bombers’ injury front with injuries to important trio Dylan Shiel, Sam Draper and Jye Caldwell, Mahoney said the group would take key lessons out of the Bombers’ 54-point loss to the Power.
“Going over to Adelaide to face Port Adelaide was always going to be a tough challenge – they’re a red-hot team and they probably put stress on all elements of our game. They have power runners and experience across the board, and they started very well," he said.
“Before we knew it, we were five goals down and that was off the back of some very good contest work by them. They were clean with the footy and they have a dangerous forward line up against our inexperienced defence. They showed how far away we are at the moment against those top sides.
"Monday was about reviewing that game and seeing what Port are doing really well and seeing that’s how we want to be. It’s a good learning for our young guys.”
On late Monday, the club confirmed the extent of the injuries to Shiel, Draper and Caldwell, with Mahoney calling on the playing group to step up with the forced changes.
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“The three injuries hurt quite a bit. It’s really disappointing news to have those medium to long-term injuries out of the game,” Mahoney said.
“Dylan Shiel is a very experienced player for our midfield and unfortunately now has a meniscus injury which will require surgery.
“Sam Draper went down in a marking contest in the third (quarter) and it was a high-end ankle syndesmosis injury. He’s looking at needing surgery, too, so it will be likely an eight-week injury. Jye Caldwell did his hammy in the third quarter which was a bit more significant than a normal injury.
“But (the injuries) will create some good opportunities for guys to come in. We’ve got Jake Stringer who has now played two games in the VFL, Matt Guelfi back from injury, David Zaharakis has played his first game back in the VFL and we will potentially have some debutants in the next little while with Archie Perkins, Nick Bryan and potentially Alec Waterman, too, so we look forward to seeing how they go.”
