Essendon coach John Worsfold speaks to the media following his team’s 65-point loss to Adelaide on Saturday night …
On the most disappointing aspect of the result …
“What bothered me the most was … in that first quarter-and-a-half how far off the mark we were and how much slicker Adelaide looked in terms of being able to win the footy and go forward really quickly and sharply and get results. There were times when we got the ball where we looked really good moving it, but then would make errors that Adelaide preyed on and really punished us. We couldn’t slow the game down at all. I don’t know how many tackles there were between both teams in that first quarter, but we certainly didn’t have too many. The game was played really open and fast and Adelaide are better at that than us.”
On laying only 17 tackles in the first half …
“It was talked about during the first quarter, that you can’t tackle if they’ve got the footy in space. We needed to address that. Our work around the contest was well short of what we expect from each other. To the boys’ credit, they certainly addressed it and showed some good signs in the second half.”
On running out games and how the players returning after a year out are faring …
“It’s a real unknown for us at the moment. Jobe (Watson) was out on his feet. We really didn’t want to put him through the midfield at all in the last quarter. Some of those players felt the pinch, it’s sort of hit us as a group but it doesn’t give us any excuse in that first half.
“We’re trying to work out where we sit. We know we’ve got a lot of improvement in us. Right now, we’ve beaten Hawthorn and played really well (in that game). I certainly don’t underestimate the way the guys came out in that first game of the year, which was such a massive game for our footy club. We backed it up beating Brisbane on the road, but we’ve hit a wall a little bit in the last couple of weeks.
“It gives us an idea about how much work we’ve got to do. The exciting part is that we want to do the work, these boys want to do the work. We’ve got some great young talent coming through that are going to learn from playing, maybe, the No.1 ranked team in the comp right now.”
On the message to his team at half time when the deficit was 52 points …
“The (half-time) address was basically that we’re playing a team that’s playing, potentially, premiership football – they’re moving the ball as good as you’ll see any team move it. They’re undefeated. They went into this season as a highly-rated team and they’re playing great footy.
“The challenge to our players was, ‘Do you want to step up and measure yourself against that, and not be shell shocked by it?’ And to enjoy the challenge of playing a team that is at that level. I think the players embraced that. They wanted to go out and say, ‘Righto, let’s see what we can do about it’.”
On Adelaide’s early-season form …
“I wouldn’t say (the Crows are) favourites for the flag but I’d say they should be, right now, one of the most highly-rated teams in the competition, if not the most highly rated.
“I rate them highly. I’ve seen them up close (while working for the Club in 2015) and I’ve seen what they’ve been building over a couple of seasons – and that’s not slowing down. They’re going really well.
“What I saw when I was here (in Adelaide) was a very, very young backline, but very talented. It’s pretty much the same backline from 2015. If (Josh) Jenkins is out there, that’s pretty much the forward line that I saw building and saw the talent in them in 2015.
"It’s a slightly different mix … they’ve injected some youth and some real speed as well. Obviously, (Matt) Crouch has really developed – he wasn’t regularly in the best midfield when I was here, but he’s developed really well.
“They have got some good depth, they’ve obviously got Brad Crouch that will be available as well.”
On stopping Adelaide’s high-scoring forward line …
“They had Jenkins and (Mitch) McGovern out today. They’re an elite forward line and have played the last four seasons alongside each other with (Tom) Lynch and Charlie (Cameron), Eddie and ‘Tex’ (Taylor Walker) as well.
“That’s a big part of what makes you an imposing forward line, when you have great understanding of each other.”
On where Essendon sits in the competition this season …
“We’ve got to really wait probably another four rounds, five rounds and we’ll get a feel for it. If we split our games over the next four or five rounds … we’re one of those teams that’s going to be 50-50 wins and losses. If we get on a roll and win a couple of big games over the next three or four (weeks) then, maybe, we’re still pushing to be in that top eight at the end of the year.
“We’ve set our goals for what we want to achieve over the next three or four years as a group. What I’m doing is holding them accountable to putting things in place to achieve that. We knew it wasn’t going to happen in four weeks of the season.
“It’s going to take a lot of hard work. In terms of how many wins and losses we’ll achieve this year, that was too hard to predict but in terms of putting some accountabilities in place for each other about the way we want to play, that has happened. We’ve already assessed that post-game and we know there are some areas we really felt we let each other down in. That’s part of what we’re learning. We’ve got things in place that we’ll work extremely hard on this week and for a number of weeks to try and improve.
“I want the players to take the game on and be brave and not get nervous. I think they still took Adelaide on today and it cost us a bit, but if we get better and we keep playing that way and getting better at playing that way I think we’ll get to where we want to quicker than just trying to play really slow and safe until we think we’re ready to take it on.”
