Look, Brad Scott's not about to panic. Even as his Essendon side sits at 0-3 and the vultures are circling, the Bombers coach is insisting he remains confident about where the club is headed.
That doesn't mean things have been flash in recent weeks. Essendon's start to the 2026 season has been about as painful as it gets. A 63-point loss to Port Adelaide plunged Essendon to a 0-2 start and into the brutal AFL spotlight, before they got done by Hawthorn in round one as well.
But Scott isn't interested in the quick fix. According to the SMH, he's ruled out any "knee-jerk" reaction at the selection table as the Bombers prepare for Saturday's match against North Melbourne. What he's expecting, instead, is a performance that looks noticeably different from what we've seen in the opening fortnight.
Scott lashed his "demoralised" team for being "not hard-nosed enough in defence" after the Port loss. That's not unusual for a coach under pressure. What matters is whether the players actually respond.
Here's the thing: Essendon conceded over 300 marks over the last two weeks. That's not a selection problem. That's a culture problem. That's blokes not getting to contests hard enough, not being willing to do the tough stuff.
The good news is that at least the playing group seems to understand that. Skipper Andrew McGrath called a players-only meeting after Sunday's loss, which Langford said was about "taking ownership". Kyle Langford, one of the club's most respected senior figures, was crystal clear when he said the onus falls on the players now, not the coach.
Langford said 2026, his 12th year at Essendon, was the best he'd felt about the group's direction, praising Scott for changing the culture. "He's done everything he can, now it's on to us players," he added.
That's a refreshing bit of honesty in a week when the noise around Essendon has been louder than a possum in your roof. There's only so much a coach can do. At the end of the day, footy's played on the field by the blokes in the red and black, and they know that. Scott's message is clear; now they've got to deliver.
Saturday night against North Melbourne won't fix everything. But if the Bombers look genuinely different on the defensive side of the ball, that might be enough to suggest there's still something to work with here.