A large contingent of Essendon players have agreed to attend the only MCG match during this weekend’s first round of the AFL finals, 7NEWS Melbourne’s Mitch Cleary has revealed.
The Bombers’ infamous streak without a finals win reached its 20th anniversary on Wednesday.
To mark that milestone date, so to speak, a group of Essendon players will watch together from the stands when the Western Bulldogs clash with Hawthorn on Friday night.
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The rare move to attend as a large group was driven by the players and is seen as a learning experience as the Bombers search for ways to end their drought.
But it will be a torturous experience following the team’s collapse this season when a first finals win since the 2004 seemed on the cards.
Essendon fans were dreaming when the team sat in the top two after Round 12 and remained in the top four after Round 17 in July.
With the ladder as tight as ever, a losing streak sent the Dons crashing out of the eight altogether after Round 20.
The Bombers won eight of their first 11 games and lost six of their last seven.
“We need to improve our list … forward, back and midfield,” Brad Scott said after the 11th-place finish to end his second season in charge.
“It’s not one specific area … it’s not going to be tweaks, we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Yet Scott insisted his side weren’t far off the mark.
“It’s true if you look at the wins and losses and that’s ultimately what counts,” he said.
“There were parts of our game in the first half (of the season) we weren’t happy with at all. We found a way to win a lot of games, where in the second half we did the opposite.”
The clean-out began when Tex Wanganeen, Kaine Baldwin and, in the biggest surprise, Nick Hind were told they would not be offered contracts for 2025.
Hind played 15 games this season but it wasn’t enough to earn a new deal.
Jake Kelly has also retired at just 29 years old after playing 20 games this year.
That decision brought Essendon’s list changes to six after rookie Jaiden Hunter was delisted and former skipper Dyson Heppell retired with a farewell game in the final round.
– with AAP
