Nightmare start as Scott says Dons ‘demoralised’; West Coast end big losing streak
Updated ,first published
In today’s AFL Briefing, your daily wrap of footy news:
- Essendon have endured a horrid start to the season – two heavy defeats to leave them with a percentage of 55%.
- West Coast overcame a 30-point deficit to post an upset 17-point win over North Melbourne and end their 14-match losing streak.
- Fremantle forward Patrick Voss will pay a price for taunting Melbourne’s Harrison Petty after the AFL charged him with misconduct.
Dons coach Scott worried over ‘selfishness’
Steve Barrett
Adelaide: Essendon coach Brad Scott says he noticed selfishness creep in against Port Adelaide as the lowly Bombers slumped to two heavy defeats to start the season.
After a lacklustre loss to Hawthorn to launch their 2026 campaign, the Bombers were thumped by Port Adelaide in a one-sided game in which the margin blew out to 80 points in the final quarter.
The fourth-year Essendon coach described the playing group as “demoralised”.
“We want to build a club and a culture that is based on team-first,” said Scott after the 63-point defeat at Adelaide Oval.
“We can’t have selfishness, players who think about themselves.
“We’ve done a lot of work to make sure we don’t have that.
“But when things are really hard, and you get demoralised, human nature is to think about yourself and ‘what does this mean for me’.
“We’ve got so much work to do in that space.”
But Essendon recruit Brayden Fiorini insists the Bombers players stand by the beleaguered coach “100 per cent”.
Fiorini said Scott prepared the team well and that the players need to take ownership of a second successive poor performance and 15th straight defeat.
“We stand by Scotty 100 per cent,” Fiorini said.
“I thought he prepared us really well this week. We had a really good gameplan going in, and it’s on us players that we didn’t execute.
“We didn’t get it done today. It’s on us as players.”
Scott said it was fair to suggest there was a lack of desire to defend.
“I think it’s part of it,” he said.
“It would be ridiculous for me to say that’s not the case.
“We’re not hard-nosed enough in defence, full stop.
“I’m a coach who very rarely questions lack of effort, (and) lack of fight … but there’s no doubt that we’re demoralised.
“That can appear to look like lack of effort and lack of fight.”
The blowtorch on Scott roared into overdrive as the Bombers’ nightmare start to the season continued.
Essendon were utterly uncompetitive in the opening quarter and only marginally better in the second and third terms before the margin ballooned to 80 points in the fourth.
Kane Cornes said on SEN “this is a coach-killing performance” during the first-half rout, at the end of which Essendon had nosedived to a 49-point deficit as the Power peeled off nine unanswered goals.
The Bombers haven’t won a game since last year’s Dreamtime at the ’G clash with Richmond. That was 303 days ago.
Essendon’s losing streak now sits at 15, the second-longest in the club’s proud history, superseded only by their 17-game skid during the 2016 doping suspension crisis.
The Power were virtually untroubled in securing coach Josh Carr his maiden victory at the helm, but the news wasn’t all positive for the home side, with captain Connor Rozee sustaining an injury high in his left hamstring.
Best-on-ground at half-time – by which time he’d already collected 20 touches – Rozee had to be slowly helped off Adelaide Oval in the third quarter after experiencing nerve numbness in the area while lunging to tackle Sam Durham.
Rozee’s left knee hyperextended while he gave chase, but there appears to be no damage to the joint.
Then in the fourth quarter, Miles Bergman came off after hurting his left ankle in a marking contest against Nate Caddy.
The Bombers’ casualty ward had two more victims added to it with experienced defender Mason Redman hurting the outside of his left knee on an awkward landing in the opening stanza and draftee Dyson Sharp rolling his left ankle in a typically ferocious Zak Butters tackle.
After an insipid first-round loss to North Melbourne, Port’s prime movers stepped up and put the Bombers to the sword.
Rozee was prolific before his injury, while Butters’ influence through the middle forced Essendon to hastily shelve the Archie Roberts tag.
Aliir Aliir intercepted everything in sight and Jason Horne-Francis, who came in for heavy criticism for his quiet outing against the Kangaroos, booted three first-quarter goals before handing off a couple of others.
Brayden Fiorini kicked the first goal of the afternoon, but it was otherwise all Port, racking up 21 of the first 23 inside-50s and storming to a 32-point quarter-time lead.
The Power were able to mark too freely in attack as they picked holes in Essendon’s besieged backline, and ran rings around the visitors all afternoon on the outside, amassing 165 marks to 59.
A triple-figure blowout looked a possibility before the Bombers salvaged some face with a late flurry of goals, Caddy (4.3) the chief beneficiary, but Port’s cue was firmly placed in the rack by then with the heat long gone from the contest.
Reid stars as Eagles stun Kangaroos in Perth
West Coast’s current and future stars shone brightly as the Eagles overcame a 30-point deficit to post an upset 17-point win over North Melbourne in front of 47,083 fans at Optus Stadium.
The Kangaroos looked set for an easy win in Sunday’s match in Perth after racing to a 49-19 lead early in the second quarter.
But the Eagles, who possess the youngest and most inexperienced list in the AFL, slammed through eight of the next nine goals to turn the match on its head.
Elliot Yeo (19 disposals, two goals), Harley Reid (30 disposals) and Jamie Cripps (three goals) played key roles in the 17.9 (111) to 15.4 (94) win, snapping the club’s 14-game losing run.
West Coast’s young talent shone brightly.
No.1 draft pick Willem Duursma kicked two goals from 15 disposals as well as taking a stunning pack mark in the final quarter.
No.4 pick Cooper Duff-Tytler kicked two goals himself, while second-year forward Jobe Shanahan and Archer Reid also chipped in with a pair of majors each, along with mature-age recruit Milan Murdock.
AAP
Voss charged with misconduct for Petty taunt
Peter Ryan
Fremantle forward Patrick Voss will pay a price for taunting Melbourne’s Harrison Petty after the AFL charged him with misconduct for taunting Melbourne’s Harrison Petty.
The AFL fined Voss $1500 for mocking the defender when he rubbed his hair and then rubbed his eyes as though he was crying on the quarter time siren.
The crying reference was related to an incident in 2022 when Petty became emotional after Lions’ skipper Dayne Zorko sledged him about his mother who was sick.
The AFL does not have a taunting rule but the MRO determined that Voss’s action was unsportsmanlike and unacceptable.
They came to the view that Voss’s unnecessary actions could have led to retaliation. The league is also keen to set an example to community and junior leagues and hope the fine will deter players from such public sledging.
Voss’s action was widely condemned for his act on Sunday however Dockers’ coach Justin Longmuir defended the player post-game. “He does a lot right in that sense. We understand he treads a fine line at times, and he’s got to manage that,” Longmuir said.
SEN commentator Kane Cornes said it was a difficult decision for the AFL but expressed concern about the precedent being set.
“How can you fine someone for doing a crying motion? Like, he hasn’t said anything… it’s a slippery slope,” Cornes said.
Fox Footy’s David King said post-game the AFL should act to stamp out such incidents if possible. “I’m not sure whether there’s anything in the rules you could sanction the player, but it’s a worthy discussion because in the end it’s an ugly part of our game we don’t need,” King said.
Voss has become a cult figure at the Dockers with his exuberant celebrations after kicking a goal. He kicked 37 goals last season. On Saturday, he also picked up Melbourne wingman Ed Langdon in a tackle and walked toward the fence with the Demon on his shoulders.
In other MRO findings, Gold Coast forward Bailey Humphrey was offered a two-game ban for rough conduct following his sling tackle on Richmond’s Maurice Rioli at the MCG on Saturday afternoon. The action was graded careless conduct, high-impact and high contact.
Giants’ skipper Toby Greene was also fined for striking St Kilda’s Marcus Windhager during their narrow loss at Engie Stadium. Greene made public on the eve of the season his commitment to not be suspended this season.
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