Essendon coach Brad Scott says he feels for the membership’s supporters after a second post-siren defeat in two seasons on Saturday, praising “miraculous kicks” from Dan Houston and Jamie Elliott.
The Bombers’ four-point loss to Port Adelaide got here nearly one yr on from their devastating defeat by the identical margin by the hands of the Magpies after Elliott nailed his set shot from 45m out towards the boundary.
Experts lauded Houston’s booming kick from exterior the arc as much more spectacular than Elliott’s matchwinner given the moist circumstances, however Scott batted away the “wet ball” idea regardless of his reward for Houston.
He stated the behind snapped by star Darcy Parish with simply over a minute remaining had not solely given the Power the prospect to launch the ball into their ahead half from the kick-in however allowed defender Trent McKenzie to swap in a brand new, dry Sherrin from behind the objectives.
“We kicked a point, they picked out a nice brand new ball out of the box behind the goal, so maybe even 20 years ago it would have been a wet, heavy ball, but it certainly wasn’t,” Scott stated.
“It doesn’t take anything away from an unbelievable kick and I really feel for our players and I feel for Essendon supporters because Jamie Elliott and Dan Houston have done some miraculous things to cost us victory.”
Scott stated it was no fluke that high two sides Collingwood and Port Adelaide have been persevering with to prevail in shut finishes.
“There’s a pretty simple correlation – good teams win tight games. Our focus is on becoming a good team, and when you’re a really good team you tend to win those close games, whether you’re (coming from) just behind or just in front,” he stated.
Scott stated it was nonetheless “difficult to get a timeframe” for the return of ruckman Sam Draper, who has been sidelined for the final three weeks with a hip damage.
“We were going to be conservative with him … we made the decision before the bye that we’d look to get him back to 100 per cent before he played again,” Scott stated.
The Bombers coach stated understudy Nick Bryan’s excellent VFL kind meant he was being strongly thought of, however staff stability was a problem.
Key ahead Sam Weideman has kicked solely two objectives in his final seven video games and has been stored goalless in his final 5, however Scott stated after the Power loss his affect because the second ruckman had been vital.
“Nick Bryan is just too good for the VFL, he’s a really dominant player at that level, so we’re really keen to get him into the side,” Scott stated.
“Nick’s holding up his end of the bargain, it’s just the balance of our side that we need to think through.
“We’ve got good selection challenges … when Dylan Shiel is your sub, I think that’s a reflection of the pressure that we’ve got for spots.”
Source: www.news.com.au
