Essendon’s round three 8.4 (52) to 14.17 (101) loss to Carlton on Sunday featured 10 senior-listed players.

VFL senior coach Leigh Tudor has assessed each player below.

The Bombers will have a bye this week before returning to Windy Hill to face Frankston at 2:05pm on May 16. 

Tom Cutler

Stats: Six disposals, one tackle

“‘Cuts’ started well. He was getting plenty of the ball in the first quarter and then he did his calf in the second quarter, so that was disappointing for him. He’s going to miss a few weeks now.” 

Ned Cahill

Stats: 23 disposals, six marks, four tackles

“It was a pretty good effort from Ned. He pretty much played on-ball the whole game and he didn't get much rest. He won a fair bit of the ball and used it pretty well. He set us up a fair bit, so I was pretty happy with Ned’s game. He had four tackles as well, so his defensive effort was good. Like most blokes he was a bit tired in the last quarter. He tried to battle on for us all game."

Patrick Ambrose

Stats: 17 disposals, one goal, three marks, three hitouts

“Another good effort from Patty. I think he only had one rest for the whole game. He ran hard all game, presented for us really well. I thought he was good in the contest and competed hard, but it was a tough day for our forwards to be honest.” 

Cody Brand

Stats: 15 disposals, six marks, two tackles

“The good thing from Cody was that he played 100 per cent game time. When he was tired he made some errors but it was probably to be expected. A couple of times he got beaten out the back which was disappointing, and I know he was disappointed in that. To his credit he did a good job because he had to stay on the ground the whole time with the injuries we had.”

Tom Hird

Stats: 14 disposals, five marks, two tackles

“I thought defensively it was probably his best game he’s played for us this year. His man had no impact on the game. The last couple of weeks he’s been working on his accountability, and the last two weeks I thought he’s been one of our better backmen in that regard. I was really happy with the way he defended and he got a little bit of the ball.”

Brandon Zerk-Thatcher

Stats: 14 disposals, six marks

“Tough game for ‘Thatchy’ again. He was another one that didn't get a rest. Again, a little bit like ‘Brandy’ (Cody Brand) he got beaten over the back a few times which was disappointing and his ball use probably let himself down a little bit there, so it'll be a good week for Thatchy to get out on the track and work on his ball use and start again.”

Lachlan Johnson

Stats: 11 disposals, three marks

“Quiet game from Lachie. He had a bit of midfield time. He also went down the back and got a little bit of uncontested ball. It was a tough game for Lachie."

Alec Waterman

Stats: 11 disposals, one goal, three marks

“I thought Alec started really well. He kicked a goal, he was presenting, he was really good in the one-on-one contests. He reads the game very well. Unfortunately, he did his ankle in the second quarter. With the other injuries we had he tried to stay on as long as he could, but by three-quarter time he was pretty much done. It was a really good effort for him to stay out as long as he did.”

Josh Eyre

Stats: Three disposals, two marks, two tackles

“He didn't get a lot of the ball. We lost our ruckman before the game, so he had to be sort of a relief ruckman and I thought he competed honestly in the ruck. As a forward he probably dropped a few marks he could've taken and probably found it a bit tougher this week." 

Cian McBride

Stats: Five disposals, one mark, one tackle 

“I thought it was a great effort from Cian. He had to ruck. It was the first time he’d been a ruckman and he was really competitive against De Koning, who's a very good ruckman from Carlton. We were only minus two for clearances for the game, so I thought he battled really hard and followed up really well. He knew we were under the pump and he tried to stay out as long as he could to help the boys, so I was really happy with his care for the team.”