‘Hard to say no’: vow to ‘go to work’ on injury trend as more setbacks confirmed

Essendon coach Brad Scott says his club will “go to work” on the array of recent soft tissue injuries following setbacks for two of its young stars.

A stunning Connor Rozee masterclass was the centrepiece of a prolific performance by Port Adelaide, which rose to the occasion of Gather Round Friday night footy with a 69-point thumping of the Bombers.

The Bombers lost young gun midfielder Archie Perkins (hamstring) in the second half, with Scott indicating post-match he was unlikely to play next week.

Scott also confirmed best and fairest Jordan Ridley had suffered a “recurrence of his quad” injury he picked in the Bombers’ pre-season loss to Geelong, adding he would be sidelined for “at least as long as we suspected the first time around”.

Perkins joins Ridley, Matt Guelfi (calf) and Zach Reid (hamstring) on the sidelines, while midfielder Darcy Parish is only two games back from a hamstring complaint.

Asked directly if the Bombers had an issue with soft tissue injuries, Scott told reporters: “It’s hard to sit here and say ‘no’.

“We just have to go and be really diligent in assessing what’s happening there. We, like all AFL clubs, run a really thorough medical program, but at the moment we’re being hurt by some soft tissues.

“In a full contact sport there are some unavoidable injuries, but you’d like to think the soft-tissue ones are the ones you can do something about. So we’ll need to go to work on that.”

As impressive as Hinkley’s men were, Scott’s charges disappointed in equal measure on Friday night.

The shellshocked Bombers conceded 10 of 11 goals scored at one stage and managed just 22 second-half points as Rozee, Jason Horne-Francis and Zak Butters sliced them open in a midfield masterclass.

Zach Merrett and Nic Martin gathered plenty of possessions but were unable to have much say as the Bombers fell to their eighth loss in a row against their bogey side.

Scott said he was pleased with the Bombers’ pressure, but lamented the fact his side won hitouts (+11) yet lost centre clearances (-13).

“The end result looks like, probably, a lack of effort but in terms of the things that we tried to get on our terms, we lost momentum in some of the key areas of the game,” Scott said.

“In the end, it’s a good wake-up call for our guys.

“(The centre square work) has been a strength of our game, we’re only four games in, but it’s been a strength for us.

“Sometimes it’s a bit of a perfect storm: Whatever we changed made it worse. We were beaten on the inside and we held outside … and it flipped – we got beaten inside and outside. That’s a real credit to (Port Adelaide).

“Rozee and Horne-Francis were just totally dominant in that part of the game and around the ground, they were clearly the two dominant players on the ground.

“It certainly wasn’t for a lack of changing match-ups … we threw them around and whatever we threw at them they were good enough to beat them. That’s a disappointing part of the game, but that’s the difference, right at the moment, between the two sides.

“The big part of the message is Port, right now, are where we want to be and they gave us a good lesson.

“You can be very clearly frustrated and disappointed, but you’ve got to learn your lesson and progress from there.”