Essendon coach Brad Scott has conceded his side “ran out of gas” in its fourth-quarter collapse against Collingwood on Anzac Day, labelling it a “perfect storm.”
The Bombers led the Magpies by 28 points at three-quarter time of Tuesday’s match in front of an Anzac Day record crowd of over 95,000 people at the MCG before Collingwood, like it did so many times last year, surged over the top in the final term.
It included Essendon getting smashed in clearances -3 (13-10), inside 50s -16 (20-4) and points from clearances -23 (25-2) during the one-sided fourth quarter in a Collingwood stoppage blitz.
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Essendon Bombers Press Conference | 11:45
Speaking on Fox Footy’s AFL 360 on Tuesday night,Scott said his team just couldn’t get the game back on its terms.
“When you defend for half an hour straight, I don’t think any defence can hold up under that sort of pressure,” the Bombers coach said.
“We ran out of a bit of gas. Once we got the ball, we couldn’t control it and we just kept kicking it back to contests and kept losing those contests.
“It was a perfect storm really because we didn’t get far enough in front with a few minutes to go on the clock to shut the game down either. We actually needed to score, which we just couldn’t do.”
Scott also highlighted how the 6-6-6 rule meant the Bombers couldn’t flood numbers behind the ball in an attempt to thwart the fast-finishing Pies.
“The 6-6-6 rule, we’re on the wrong side of it, but it’s another reason why that rule is so important. It would’ve been a lot easier (without it) for us to shut the game down,” Scott added.
“To Collingwood’s credit, the ability to put Steele Sidebottom and Nick Daicos in the middle late and for them to step up.
“We hung in there, but the last quarter but it was really – not even about our defence – it was the fact we couldn’t get our hands on the ball.
“We really badly lost the contest at ground level and couldn’t get the ball forward or get control of it.”
He remained optimistic though that the club could take key learnings away from its fadeout.
“There’s progression for us, and to get 28 points in front of a good side like Collingwood is good for us. As painful as it is to say, we will learn a lot from that last quarter,” the Bombers coach said.
It came after Essendon’s most impressive performance of the season in a 27-point Gather Round win over Melbourne as Scott’s side has now tested itself against the two premiership favourites.
To emerge from the challenging fortnight 1-1 including getting so close to putting Collingwood away, the Bombers, who remain in the top four at 4-2 overall, have reason to be bullish about their prospects in 2023.
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“At three-quarter time you’re looking at it going, OK, they handled Melbourne well last week and they’ve got a five-goal lead on Collingwood – and we feel like those are the two benchmark teams. There’ll be such disappointment in not being able to finish it off, but through seven quarters they revealed they are bona fides,” AFL 360 co-host Gerard Whateley said of Essendon.
“They’ll get a lot out of today including the sting of not being able to finish off something they would’ve felt like they worked to have in order.”
The tests keep coming for Essendon ahead of a tough upcoming stretch against Geelong (MCG), Port Adelaide (away), Brisbane (away) and Richmond (MCG) over the next month.
Even if they aren’t genuine contenders this year, Hawthorn legend Jason Dunstall believes there’s still plenty of good signs for Bombers fans.
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“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. They’ve started the season really well, but they don’t have the season under their belt like Collingwood does,” Dunstall told AFL 360.
“We didn’t think they were going to be right at the pointy end. They’re still a work in progress, and Brad Scott knows there’s a heap of growth still to come within that organisation.
“But they’re doing a lot of things right at the moment. When you can measure yourself against the best – I thought they were super impressive in Adelaide (against Melbourne) last week – that was the best I’ve seen them play for a long, long time.
“And for three quarters today to control a team like Collingwood, not many teams can do that.
“I wouldn’t be too disheartened if I’m an Essendon supporter. I’m thinking: ‘We are seriously on the right track.’
“They might play finals this year, I don’t know yet, let’s wait and see. But they’re doing a lot of things right and it’s certainly trending in the right direction.”
Three-time premiership winning Lion Jonathan Brown also believes there’s “a lot of positives’ for Essendon and thinks they can play finals.
“I know they beat Melbourne last week, (but) you were wondering are they just up and about early in the season? I thought (against Collingwood) they really showed they’ve got bona fide qualities and they’re a top eight calibre team, no doubt about it,” Brown said on On the Couch.
“They were able to move the ball well on turnover and scored well against the Pies on turnover.”
