Scott: “Umpires Make Mistakes.”

With minutes to go in the first half of Essendon’s loss to Hawthorn, Andrew McGrath slipped while under pressure his defensive goal square, on pure instinct, he handballed the ball over the goal line for a behind. However, the umpire said that it was a deliberate rushed behind and Brad Scott showed frustration post-game;

“Ask the umpires, there’s some stuff I could say,” Scott began.

“All we are told, is that if you are under any semblance of pressure, and you’re inside nine [metres], you can rush it behind

“They have to explain it, not me. I’m just giving you the information we are given.”

In a disappointing game for Essendon, the Dons won a lot of the major stats, but Hawthorn calved the Bombers when it mattered most;  

“They’re very good kicks, they sliced us up in the middle on a couple of occasions. 

“We sat back of them a little too much, particularly in the first quarter.   

“I thought in the second half that we controlled last part of it. The screen that I looked at was flashing green in key metrics, but the one I don’t look at was the scoreboard. 

Scott sung the praises of his players mindset, but was quick to point out key areas where they game was lost;

“I’m pleased with the fact that we never conceded, but clearly, there’s a gap between the two sides at the moment,” Scott said.  

“Effort, contest, ability to defend were very good, but ability to defend against their class was certainly wanting the first half. 

“We lost in crucial contest, especially in our back half. 

“To concede six goals from centre bounce and kick-ins.  Things that we know, we trained for, then we didn’t execute.“

Brad Scott’s style of game, is based on contestant football, something that he reconfirmed last night.

“We want to build a team around effort, the effort in contest,” Scott said. 

“It’s a contestant game, but we also want to build a game around effort when it’s not going our way.

“There were some things that we were trying to do, that were on for us.  The options were there, we just got to find them.” 

“I’ve got a lot of belief in our group.  I think if you play against really good teams, they are going to use the ball really well.  The really good teams do.” 

In particular, Jye Caldwell and debutant Isaac Kako caught Scott’s eye;

“Caldwell was outstanding, wish I had two of him,” Scott said.  

“He’s elevated his game, he’s playing on some good Hawthorn mids.

“It was great to see Isaac out there, he did some really good things.  I like the way he pressured, he gives us energy we haven’t had in the forward half in the last couple years. 

“That’s only the beginning for Isaac.”   

With Langford’s injury last night adding to a growing list of injured Essendon forwards, Scott admitted that he may have to change his structure, stating that he can either go structural or personal based in his replacements. Langford’s injury will be longer then one week.

Essendon take on the Crows next week in Melbourne.