Brad Scott has taken the unprecedented step of questioning the fight in his side after another pitiful performance on the weekend.
The Bombers kicked the first major of the day, but were behind from thereafter in the 63-point drubbing at the hands of the Power, on a picturesque Sunday afternoon at the Adelaide Oval.
Essendon lost clearances by 16, marks by 107, disposals by 70, and bewilderingly, tackles by six, despite evidently having their hands on the football far less than their opponent.
Scott's post-match press conference was appointment viewing, and the former Lions hard man tackled both the finer details of the performance, and the broader context of the club's plight, following their second consecutive loss by more than 10 goals to start the season.
tackled by Miles Bergman of the Power during the round two AFL match between Port Adelaide Power and Essendon Bombers at Adelaide Oval, on March 22, 2026, in Adelaide, Australia. (Photo by Mark Brake/Getty Images)
Scott conceded that there was a lack of defensive desire in a damning indictment on particularly his senior players.
"It would be ridiculous of me to say that's not the case," Scott said.
"We're not hard-nosed enough in defence ... that's not just the defenders, that's all over the ground.
"I'm a coach who very rarely questions a lack of effort and a lack of fight. You know these guys well enough that they'll always give that. But there's no doubt we're demoralised. And that can appear to look like a lack of effort and a lack of fight.
"We want to build a club and a culture that is based on team first. And we can't have selfishness and players who think about themselves, and we've done a lot of work to make sure we don't have that.
"But when things get hard and we get demoralised, human nature is to think about yourself and 'what does this mean for me?' We've got so much work to do in this space."
An absence of pressure applied without the ball, subpar ball use when finally in possession and an inability to mark the ball inside their attacking arc were also features of his analysis.
"It's going to be really hard to defend for long periods of the game when you only take seven marks inside 50," he said.
"Credit to the opposition, they pressured us better than we pressured them. Mind you, our pressure was non-existent.
"And we butchered the ball when we had it. We've got an enormous amount of work to do on our defence full stop, but when you're turning the ball over in horrible parts of the ground, basic fundamental errors and giving the ball back - no one is set up to defend that."
Scott's mood eventually changed, with the optimism being engendered by the club's youth, the focus of the presser's final moments.
"I'm never going to tell Essendon fans to be patient, because I reckon 25 years is long enough to hear the same message," he said.
"But if I'm an Essendon fan, I'm watching the character of these players - particularly the younger players - who will make them proud one day. As frustrating as it is at the moment, good clubs stick together.
"No one wants to hear all the preaching about stability and all that sort of stuff right now. But the reality is, you've only got two options: you can give up or you can fight.
"It's difficult at the moment, because it doesn't appear to look like that (there is fight).
"But I believe in these guys and I think they're made of the right stuff."
