Bombers coach Brad Scott had no issue with Alexandra Merrett's decision to leave last week's game early, or her ensuing social post that caused a stir.
With the Dons trailing the Dogs at half-time by 54 points last Saturday, Alexandra Merrett - the wife of former Essendon captain Zach Merrett - revealed via TikTok that she had exited Marvel Stadium, instead opting for a glass of wine at the fancy Melbourne restaurant Gimlet.
"When your husband's team is losing by 50 points at half-time so you go to Gimlet instead," she posted, with the caption "whoops".
Speaking at his weekly pre-match press conference on Thursday, Scott was asked whether the club sets any expectations around players' partners attending games?
"Absolutely not," Scott said.
"We're very fortunate to do what we do as players, coaches. In a lot of ways it's harder on the partners than it is on the players.
"We can absorb just about anything. When your partners have to absorb it, it can be extremely hard.
"I'll pick up Alexandra another gift voucher to Gimlet next week if she wants it."
With the Dons winless in four games this season, and staring down the barrel of a club-record 18th consecutive loss, Scott doubtless has more important issues to worry about.
The coach admitted his side would be able to take something from last week's second half fightback against the Dogs into Saturday's test against the high-flying Demons at Adelaide Oval. The Bombers kicked eight goals to four following the main break to lose by 34 points.
"The effort is hard to measure when the scoreboard's going against you," said Scott.
A lot of people say, "You just want to see competitive effort", but what they really mean is they want to see a tight margin. Obviously, we look at it a lot deeper than that.
"There was a bit of reward for the effort, turning around a 54-point deficit. It's still a five-goal loss, but for the two-and-a-half quarters from the back half of the second quarter onwards, we started to look like how we've trained.
"That should give the guys a bit of belief in what we're doing."
Crichton Medal winner Jordan Ridley will play his first game of the year, fellow-defender Zach Reid has been cleared of hamstring damage, while Sullivan Robey - Pick 9 in the 2025 National Draft - will debut.
"It's the first time in recent memory, probably the last 18 months, that we have genuine selection pressure," Scott said,
"So, we'll make some decisions this week, which unfortunately, for one reason or another, we just haven't been able to make over the last 18 months with both form availability.
"We've had a really good situation in terms of availability, but also some guys in the VFL playing good footy."
