Essendon captain Andrew McGrath believes the onus for former coach Brad Scott's sacking is on the playing group.
Speaking on Tuesday afternoon, hours after Scott was relieved of his duties, McGrath fresh out of hospital with a broken jaw and swollen left cheek said he was saddened to see his coach depart.
"I got a phone call this morning, in the hospital unfortunately," McGrath said. "I sort of came straight here and met with the boys. It's obviously a really sad time for the playing group. We all have a really close connection with Brad; we love Brad.
"We understand we live in a really brutal industry at times and our support is with him at the moment and his family.
"Wins and losses are highly sort after and we weren't doing that on the field. As players we feel a lot of guilt in that. Our coaches obviously don't run on the field for us, we do that, and we weren't able to hold up our end of the bargain for large parts of the year.
"Although we have had different challenges with youth and injury and whatever else, the bottom line is we want to improve and improve fast."
Essendon had lost 23 out of its past 24 games with pressure on Scott's position growing week by week.
McGrath, who will miss three or four weeks with a jaw injury, was strong in his words that his and Scott's relationship hadn't waned at all, as the 27-year-old said he would contact his former coach later today.
"I love Brad and I can only talk on my relationship with him," he said. "I think as a captain and a coach your relationship is paramount. We need to be aligned wholeheartedly and we really were. I can see exactly where the club is heading, the strategy that we're adopting.
"I think you can see by just some of our young guys coming through and especially the work we are doing in these four walls isn't replicating on the field at this stage. I have full belief in where we are heading and my relationship with Brad is very strong.
"The initial emotion is around disappointment and sadness around the relationship that you have with him and the trust that you build as a captain and as a coach, I can only speak on that.
"It feels like we were putting together some really strong foundations, albeit not showing it on the weekend too much, but it feels like the work we have been putting together Monday-Friday has been really solid and it's going to hold the group in great stead.
"We exchanged a few messages last night before it all went down, but I'll give him a call later today."
Assistant coach and former Bomber Dean Solomon will take over as interim coach for the remainder of the season.
