NAB Cup Round 2 Bombers Defeat Lions
Essendon coach Matthew Knights believes his side still has plenty of work to do despite showing enough composure to win two games by less than a goal in the space of two weeks.
The Bombers' two-point win over the Brisbane Lions on Friday night came just a fortnight after the side triumphed over the Western Bulldogs by just one point in the NAB Cup.
Knights said while he was pleased to see his players hang on to the narrow wins, he wants them to focus more on finishing strongly.
"It's good to win these games but we can still play better in the last half of the last quarter," he said.
"What we spoke about after the game was two or three times, we got out to 18 points up and then we just let easy 'outs' happen.
"We let them back into the game quickly rather than pushing it out to a five or six goal margin, and we've got to be better than that as a side."
Knights conceded Friday's game was "ugly", considering its low-scoring, zone-orientated nature that was dominated by bad kicking and skill errors.
He said football fans might have to get used to "patient" football as more teams attempt to work defensive zones into their plans.
"There was no flow in the game whatsoever. It was fairly measured from both teams, with both teams trying to work through a zone scenario for most of the night," he said.
"There was a lot of what you'd call patient football. I wouldn't call it exhilarating football by any stretch of the imagination.
"You just can't rush through zones at 100 miles an hour without any plan or numbers otherwise it's just going to get kicked back over your head for a goal.
"As a football community and for the people watching on television, it wouldn't have been a very good spectacle, but the game is becoming more tactical and more patient.
"It was just a very patient game and the scoring was very low, and we were very fortunate to win in the end."
He said the Bombers' forward line "didn't function", but wouldn't blame the excitement surrounding the games of young guns Scott Gumbleton and Jay Neagle two weeks ago on why the pair failed to fire.
"It's part of being an AFL footballer; you've got to expect there's going to be a bit of hype if you have a decent game, so they've got to get used to that," he said.
"It's not a cop out for them. Our forward line didn't function at all. We didn't get any opportunities in the air or on the ground, and we didn't capitalise on anything."
The Bombers' two-point win over the Brisbane Lions on Friday night came just a fortnight after the side triumphed over the Western Bulldogs by just one point in the NAB Cup.
Knights said while he was pleased to see his players hang on to the narrow wins, he wants them to focus more on finishing strongly.
"It's good to win these games but we can still play better in the last half of the last quarter," he said.
"What we spoke about after the game was two or three times, we got out to 18 points up and then we just let easy 'outs' happen.
"We let them back into the game quickly rather than pushing it out to a five or six goal margin, and we've got to be better than that as a side."
Knights conceded Friday's game was "ugly", considering its low-scoring, zone-orientated nature that was dominated by bad kicking and skill errors.
He said football fans might have to get used to "patient" football as more teams attempt to work defensive zones into their plans.
"There was no flow in the game whatsoever. It was fairly measured from both teams, with both teams trying to work through a zone scenario for most of the night," he said.
"There was a lot of what you'd call patient football. I wouldn't call it exhilarating football by any stretch of the imagination.
"You just can't rush through zones at 100 miles an hour without any plan or numbers otherwise it's just going to get kicked back over your head for a goal.
"As a football community and for the people watching on television, it wouldn't have been a very good spectacle, but the game is becoming more tactical and more patient.
"It was just a very patient game and the scoring was very low, and we were very fortunate to win in the end."
He said the Bombers' forward line "didn't function", but wouldn't blame the excitement surrounding the games of young guns Scott Gumbleton and Jay Neagle two weeks ago on why the pair failed to fire.
"It's part of being an AFL footballer; you've got to expect there's going to be a bit of hype if you have a decent game, so they've got to get used to that," he said.
"It's not a cop out for them. Our forward line didn't function at all. We didn't get any opportunities in the air or on the ground, and we didn't capitalise on anything."
