Former Essendon great Tim Watson has slammed the Bombers for the club's horror loss to the Bulldogs on Saturday night.
Essendon got smashed by 103 points, conceding 21-straight goals to in what was a disastrous showing from John Worsfold's side.
And Watson believes the Bombers coach is faced with a challenge of how he addresses the group after that performance.
“He (Worsfold) has a decision to make on whether he tries to maintain the confidence of the group and how hard he goes on them, but I am of the belief that you need to be confronted with all the errors you made as an individual and as a group,” Watson told SEN Breakfast.
“There were so many example on the weekend of the way players performed that weren’t acceptable and weren’t up to AFL standard. They need to be confronted with that.
“You’ve got to go to your leaders and say you’ve got to lead. Now we may be missing some players, but you’re out there and you’ve been thrust into this position of leadership within this group because the players have separated you from the rest of the group.
“There was nothing apparent about that on Saturday night. Absolutely nothing.
“You have to hit them between the eyes. You can’t dismiss it. It’s not just four quarters of football. They kicked (eight) goals in the last (six) quarters of football. You could get any under 18 side out there that could kick six goals in (six) quarters against an AFL team.”
Former Saints skipper Nick Riewoldt agreed, stating Worsfold must make a big call now on whether he motivates his team for finals or drives standards.
“The reaction post-game from the coach was ‘this is not who we are’,” Riewoldt said.
“The Port Adelaide game last week, coming into the game the question was being asked. I was asking whether they were the 7-1 team over the last two months or are they a 4-4 team.
“In the last three weeks, Gold Coast – just, and the Gold Coast are horrific. (They lose to) Port Adelaide by 59 and the Bulldogs by 103 and the worst part about this is they’re two teams around them on the ladder trying to get into the eight and they’ve made (Essendon) look absolutely second rate.
“He’s got a philosophical decision to make John Worsfold, I don’t think they can do anything in the finals anyway, so do you try to butter the group up and lift their confidence so you can scrape into finals or do you make a stand based on driving standards now and hit them with some truth.”
