Emerging Essendon forward Nate Caddy has admitted the club’s worsening injury crisis is wearing on the players, even as they rebounded from a 91-point drubbing to defeat Richmond under the Friday night lights at the MCG.
The Bombers' sixth win of the season came at a cost, with key forward Kyle Langford succumbing to a quad injury.
He now joins a lengthy list of sidelined teammates that includes Sam Draper, Nick Bryan, Tom Edwards, Lewis Hayes, Harrison Jones, and Nik Cox. Caddy, a promising 19-year-old in just his second AFL season, acknowledged the growing toll.
“A lot of picks” in the draft and plenty to fix
“Yeah, it’s pretty tough, I won’t lie,” Caddy told Foxfooty.com.au post-match. “We’ve got to really deal with some setbacks and a bit of playing out of your roles and stuff, but I think there’s a mid-season draft this year — and I’m pretty sure we’ve got a lot of picks for that — so we’ll see how we go with that.”
Coach Brad Scott echoed that sentiment, urging his staff to treat the crisis as a coaching opportunity rather than a setback. “We may need to recast some players in different positions... the key is how we coach that and get them ready,” Scott said.
MORE: Essendon injury crisis: More key position players go down
Despite a nervy first three quarters against the Tigers, debutant Angus Clarke’s three-goal performance and some tactical tweaks helped the Dons take control in the final term. Caddy credited the coaching group for keeping the group optimistic after last week’s blowout loss.
“I think Brad did it pretty well this week — just move on and be optimistic about the stuff that we can get better at,” he said.
Essendon are expected to make up to four selections in next week’s mid-season draft, with reinforcements sorely needed to support a patched-up side hoping to keep their finals hopes alive.