3 minute read
Essendon must re-group quickly from their club-record loss to North Melbourne, with the AFLW finals only two games away.
Essendon have plenty of AFLW company for being hit hard by the North Melbourne express.
The big problem is, their club-record loss has come just a fortnight before the finals.
The Bombers also had their lowest score on Sunday when the ladder-leading Kangaroos dismantled them by 51 points.
It left Essendon eighth on percentage ahead of Saturday night's inaugural Dreamtime in Darwin game against fifth-placed Richmond, a key feature of the Indigenous round.
Then comes their final-round game against Carlton and nothing delights the Blues more than derailing the Bombers.
Essendon also have a six-day break ahead of the Tigers.
But at Monday's launch of the AFLW Indigenous round, Bombers co-captain Steph Cain spoke of their growing maturity this season and their ability to "get back on the horse" quickly.
Essendon were on a four-game winning streak before they were run over by North.
"We talked, post-game, about how quickly we have to move on - much like the condensed fixture, given it is only a six-day break," Cain said.
"It is brutal, the AFLW world. You only have 11 games of footy and we're getting to the pointy end now.
"You have to show up and perform, these last two games."
Cain said matches against top sides such as North were invaluable for the lessons Essendon can learn, no matter how brutal.
"Unfortunately, we probably didn't play the way we wanted for much of that, but that was because they took some of our strengths away from us," she said.
"I listened to (North coach) Darren Crocker's post-game presser and he talked about taking away our uncontested marks, which they probably did.
"They're humming at the moment and we could see that throughout the four quarters."
Cain said a big feature of their review this week would be their inside 50s - 13 teams have scored more than Essendon this season.
The Bombers went inside 50m just five times in the first half against North.