Essendon coach Brad Scott has reassured Bombers fans that the team they’re putting on the park is capable of winning despite their growing injury list.
The Dons lost by 41 points against Gold Coast on the weekend, recording their ninth loss of the season as they currently sit in 13th spot on the ladder.
They currently have a lengthy injury list, with 14 players listed, including six players ruled out for the season and another four without a timeline for their return.
Scott acknowledged the club has thought about the injury toll, but has said they need to look at the positives instead of focusing on the negatives for the rest of the season.
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“It’s like everything in life, you’ve got a choice how you respond to whatever situation you’re in and the choices you have is you can mope and ‘poor us and poor me and my job’s too hard’ or you can get on with the job and look at the positives,” he said.
“The aim is to keep putting a team on the park every weekend that is capable of getting the job done, and we haven’t shied away from that. There are no excuses for performance on the weekend because of who’s not there; we’re still fielding 23 fit players.”
Scott has explained on Fox Footy’s AFL360 that the injuries have also allowed them to field players who normally wouldn’t be playing.
“We genuinely think we’ve found some players that are going to improve our team short, medium, long term,” Scott said.
“The positives for us are Luamon Lual, Angus Clarke and Zak Johnston come in. All the players who have had opportunity wouldn’t have had that opportunity without these injuries.”
The Bombers will be taking on 17th-place Richmond in round 18 action this weekend at the MCG, a team that they beat by 23 points in round 11.