Brendon Goddard during the latter stages of his Essendon career.Credit:Getty Images
“It all comes down to defensive intent and defensive mindset,” said Goddard of Essendon’s struggles over the opening five rounds. He suggested that the Bombers were being picked through by the opposition due to “a lack of concentration.”
Goddard said that Essendon,who face Collingwood on Anzac Day Monday,had displayed a hard tackling and pressure brand in the opening eight rounds of last year,but this had fallen away late in the 2021 season and their current woes had continued the trend of late last season (Essendon finished eighth,losing the elimination final to the Bulldogs). “This type of football is just an extension of what they were playing at the back end of last year.”
“It’s laziness in team defence when they get the slow play. It’s mental laziness.”
Goddard said,under Ross Lyon’s coaching at St Kilda,the players had been taught to pro-active in team defence. “We used to talk about ‘stay active’ in team defence. We used to talk about continually moving.”
Essendon have been fielding one of the least experienced teams in the AFL in the past few weeks,havingbeaten only Adelaide by under a goal. They have been without their premier midfielder Zach Merrett and most potent match-winner Jake Stringer and club insiders believe that the absence of midfielder Kyle Langford and Will Snelling has thrown out the balance of their midfield,which also lacks size.
The Dons downplayed expectations before this season,in the knowledge that they had performed well above widespread expectations in 2021 when they were in rebuilding mode following the exits of senior players Joe Daniher,Adam Saad and Orazio Fantasia.
After taking over from John Worsfold late in 2020,senior coach Ben Rutten had said he wanted the Bombers to be a hard-working “blue collar” team.
Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country.Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter.