Essendon coach Brad Scott has thrown his help behind Peter Wright and defended the Bombers’ overtly bodily method following their fiery 30-point loss to undefeated Sydney on the SCG.
The Saturday evening conflict was barely 4 minutes outdated when the 203cm-tall Wright leapt into the air and landed an enormous bump on 181cm Swans midfielder Harry Cunningham, who was left concussed.
Wright, who was focused with boos from the gang for the remainder of the match, faces a prolonged suspension after the Bombers’ 19.17 (131) to fifteen.11 (101) defeat.
“I can’t comment on issues that might be before the MRO,” Scott mentioned.
“I’m not going to talk about the incident but the only thing I can say is Peter Wright is a well-known ball player – always has been, since he was a kid.”
Wright was set upon by a number of irate Sydney gamers, earlier than extra spotfires erupted after Essendon ruckman Sam Draper cannoned into Jake Lloyd and conceded a 50m penalty.
Scott spoke on Thursday of wanting his expenses to show a combative ‘Essendon edge’ however Swans ahead Tom Papley, who starred with 4 objectives and 24 disposals, accused the guests of overstepping the mark.
“They’re trying to get after us, it’s all off the ball,” Papley advised Seven Network boundary rider Cameron Ling at halftime.
“We’re just worried about the ball. We’ll keep being hard in the contest and get the job done.”
Scott is adamant his workforce’s premeditated belligerence was one of the best ways to foil the ladder leaders.
“Sydney have dominated the last few weeks and they’ve got a lot of players who are very slick and good with the ball in hand,” he mentioned.
“Their ball movement is very solid at the moment.
“If we simply sat again and watched them do this, it was going to be an extended, troublesome evening.
“We needed to combat that with some physicality in the contest.
“We may both make it into an athletics contest or we may compete within the contest and get the ball going our approach.”
Swans coach John Longmire wasn’t surprised by the Bombers’ blatant aggression as he counts the cost of the loss of Cunningham for the Easter Sunday encounter with Richmond.
“They clearly got here out with an intent within the bodily house,” he mentioned.
“They talked about it through the week and have been very clear concerning the edge they needed to play with.
“We knew they’d be coming with that.
“From our viewpoint it may be disappointing to overlook Harry for a bit now.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
