Essendon leader Mason Redman has reiterated his belief that Essendon's performance on Sunday wasn't good enough.
The Bombers defender has put the acid on teammates to step up after an honest review of a first quarter horror show against Fremantle which put the game virtually out of reach by quarter time.
Second-year Bomber Archer Day-Wicks last week pointed to the young members of the squad driving the standards, with Redman's sentiment similar when addressing media at the Dreamtime launch on Tuesday afternoon.
“It falls on us as individuals. There's contests I have to be better at as a leader. The young guys have got to look to us as leaders of the football club and we've got to be cracking in leading the way,” Redman said.
“We've got guys like Sully Robey leading the way, putting his head over the ball, first year guy, super impressive so we've got to get in behind that and get after it.
“You always feel pressure no matter how you're going, everyone is a leader within our football club. What you can do on the football field is when it's your time to go at the contest in the air or on the ground is go in and go hard so there's pressure on all of us as players.”
Speaking immediately after the loss to the Dockers, Redman said that Essendon's efforts in the first quarter “weren't up to AFL standard or any football standard.”
Coach Brad Scott lambasted the side at quarter time for their work at stoppage, trailing contested possession numbers by 13 at the first break, which was reviewed thoroughly.
“With a five day break, you can't do much about it, physically. Today in the meeting we got to see a lot of the footage I was talking about, mainly in the first quarter, post the first quarter our numbers stacked up but I stand by what I said but in the first quarter, our contest work wasn't up to scratch,” Redman said.
“You've got to take confidence from (what we did in the second half). Usually our contest is really good so I know it's not a pattern of behaviour, that first quarter so I've got absolute faith in all the boys that we're going to come out this.”
Redman threw his support behind Scott, with external pressure beginning to fall on the Bombers coach, who has remained steadfast about the club's long term strategy.
"I think as players we've never waivered off the track we're on, obviously performances haven't necessarily been at the level we want them to be this year sitting at 1-9 but Brad fills us with belief week in week out and he's the man for the job," Redman noted.
Redman brushed off concerns about a corked quad, asserting he will be good to go for Friday night, while proud Yorta Yorta man Jade Gresham would love to line up alongside his teammates.
He is the only fit First Nations player on either side, but is currently outside of Essendon's first choice line-up.
“It's somewhere where you can come out and represent your culture and family and I'm really looking forward to hopefully running out. Hopefully I run out it's a special week,” Gresham said.
