Why Essendon’s injury toll may protect the coach despite poor form
Premiership coach Adam Simpson has questioned the playing credentials of the hapless Essendon forward despite a devastating injury list that has eased the pressure on Brad Scott’s immediate future.
The injured Bombers sit last with no relief in sight as they were beaten by 18 points by 17th-placed Richmond in a massacre game at the MCG on Friday night in front of 78,815 people (10.14 (74) to 7.14 (56)).
Captain Andrew McGrath is expected to have surgery on a broken jaw this week, Archie May was hospitalized as a precaution after taking a blow to his kidney, Sam Durham suffered a concussion, Matt Guelfi is expected to miss weeks with a hamstring strain and Jye Caldwell has re-aggravated his ankle syndesmosis injury and is unlikely to fly to Perth for a trip to the West Coast next Sunday.
The defeated Bombers now have 18 players on the injury list; It’s a devastating scenario that will perversely protect the future of their senior coach, despite Essendon having won just one of their last 24 games.
“That’s the challenge for Brad, regardless of the noise – how do you stay motivated while planning your round 11 football trip?” Simpson said on SEN.
Essendon will face West Coast, Carlton, Melbourne, North Melbourne and St Kilda in their next five matches. Their only win came against the Demons in the Gather Round.
Despite running out of lists, Simpson questioned whether the trauma on the pitch on Friday night had masked a poor result for Essendon; because they lost to an equally nervous Richmond.
“You could see a real identity with Richmond from the very beginning,” Simpson said of Dreamtime at Friday night’s ‘G Clash.’
“You can see from the style of play what they are trying to do, their leaders have all established their own roles and positions and from a Richmond perspective it is a big step forward on a big stage.
“From a Richmond perspective, we saw a bit of identity and for Essendon we saw more carnage and maybe another step back towards winning some games.”
Richmond lost frontman Tom Lynch, who was hospitalized after being struck on the voice box during the match, and Jonty Faull, who suffered a concussion, while hapless forward Tom Sims suffered a suspected ACL injury in the Tigers’ VFL match on Saturday. This was his first match in 268 days.
But despite a significant injury list, the Tigers managed to move themselves further away from the bottom of the standings with their second win of the season.
In response, former Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley said Scott needed to find ways to motivate the playing group despite the season being “effectively over”.
“If we feel like we can’t win, you’ve got to get into that mode of how do I develop players,” Hinkley said on SEN.
“I think that’s a really big challenge for anyone who coaches.”
Simpson said Essendon were still fighting for the cause as they got to grips with rebuilding.
“Then you look at (Tigers coach) Adam Yze. From the beginning, he basically wanted spirit and fight, ‘we’ll do this no matter what,'” Simpson said.
“But in terms of straight line play, they play a pretty aggressive game and occasionally they change the game and go straight, but I can see that.
“And I can see (Tim) Taranto, Lynch, (Jacob) Hopper, (Jayden) Short, (Nathan) Broad and (Nick) Vlastuin playing their roles in a really defined way. They know what they’re doing in terms of positioning.”
“So for me it’s clear what the evolution has been like for them and when I look at the Bombers I don’t think they’ve figured out their identity yet, even with a few injuries here and there, we’re trying to figure out what their DNA is before the game.
“When you start a club you have to throw a few lines in the sand: ‘This is who we are as a team, this is what we do well and this is what we’ll lean into when times are tough’. They’re still working on that, let alone winning games.”
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