Essendon senior coach Ben Rutten spoke to the media via video link on Wednesday as his side prepares to face the top-of-the-table Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium on Sunday.

Below are the five key takeaways from his media conference.

1) Happy to be home

The Bombers enjoyed their first main training session back at the NEC Hangar on Wednesday after spending the past two-and-a-half weeks in Queensland due to Victoria’s coronavirus situation.

Despite playing Sunday’s game against Sydney at the MCG, this week has provided the Bombers a real chance to settle back into Melbourne to finish the last three weeks of the season.

Rutten said being home couldn’t be undervalued.

“It is (good to be home),” Rutten said.

“I think the way we handled the couple of weeks away was really professional and I’m really proud of the group and the footy club.

“It’s good to be back home and play back in Melbourne.” 

2) Interchange cap explained

In scenes not usually sighted during AFL games, Essendon found itself in the unusual position of maxing out its 75-interchange cap against Sydney on Sunday.

The Bombers had three players sit out the final five minutes after exhausting their rotation allocation.

While some externally have questioned the decision, Rutten said there were various reasons for the circumstance.

"It was a bit unlike us, we haven't really got that close to our rotation cap in a heap of games. There's a few reasons behind it," he said.

"Towards the end of the game we were in a position where we wanted to win the game and part of that was about ensuring we had the guys we wanted on the field, and to be able to do that we had to speed up our rotations.

"In the end we had Jayden Laverde come off with his shoulder that he couldn't keep playing with, and that was unexpected, and we had a couple of other guys who came off because they were exhausted and needed to come off and rotate.

"But the main reason was we wanted to ensure we were out there playing to win the game. We didn't want the rotations to hold us back. In the end it wasn't the reason we didn't get the result we wanted."

3) Offense continues to grow

Round 20 marked the sixth time this season that Essendon has scored over 100 points in a game.

The stat shows the Dons’ vast improvement in scoring since 2020, where they failed to register a century and their average score was 55, compared to this year’s tally of 77.

Rutten said the offensive display the Bombers are producing this season was something he wants to continue to nurture.

“That’s the brand of footy we want to play,” he said.

“We want to play an exciting brand of footy and we want our guys to show the flair they’ve got.

“We’re trying to encourage our guys to play an attractive and aggressive brand of footy.”

4) Selection quandaries 

The Bombers have two confirmed outs and a 50-50 proposition ahead of Sunday’s game with the Bulldogs.

Skipper Dyson Heppell and midfielder Kyle Langford will miss this weekend’s fixture, while defender Jayden Laverde is uncertain to recover from a shoulder injury sustained against the Swans.

Rutten said there’s plenty to ponder at this week’s selection table.

“Unfortunately, there’s a bit of cost out of the game,” he said.

“It’s pleasing our VFL guys were able to get a scratch match together. ‘Flip’ (Andrew Phillips) played well, (Alec) Waterman had another strong game for us and (Matt) Guelfi back there as well.

“We’ve got some options, but we’ll spend some time at the backend of the week trying to get that right.”  

5) Beating the Bulldogs

The Dons will be out to break a hoodoo when the take on the Dogs.

Essendon hasn’t beaten the league leaders since 2014, with the Dogs inflicting a 54-point average losing margin over the past seven seasons.

With the Dogs sitting on top of the AFL ladder, Rutten knows the match-up will not be easy.

“It’ll be a great opportunity for us,” he said.

“They’ve been one of the consistent teams and performers across the course of the season.

“They’re a really well-balanced team and they’re underpinned by their contest work and stoppage stuff. They’ve got some really strong players in there and big bodies.

“I think that’ll be a really significant part of the game.”