Essendon Coach John Worsfold has insisted that whilst the team performed well on the weekend against Geelong, that there is still hard work and dedication ahead to maintain that performance.

The Bombers responded after four straight losses with a commanding victory over the Cats in the annual Country Game.

“We as a footy club are aiming to become the best team we can be, week in, week out, and that’s a lot of hard work and commitment to what you believe in and how you want to play,” Worsfold said.

“We have been committed to that since pre-season started and we have been working really hard at that and that won’t change.

“We have had great learnings over the last month [of losses], we were disappointed but we need to learn what is missing in our game and focus on working hard in bringing it all together.

“One week doesn’t mean we have everything right, we have a lot to do to get to where we want to get to.

“I thought the pressure we put on Geelong was close to the best we have done this year, but it was certainly at a level we would like to play at consistently.

“We still have players out of the team and we are getting some younger players in and will keep learning.

“The will is definitely turning, even though there are games where it doesn’t look like it is, the fact that we are doing the work and are committed to where we want to get to means it will happen.

“You don’t automatically become great at something when you decide you want to be great at it, you have to work extremely hard at it.”

Worsfold was excited by the combination of youth and experience on the field.

“It was really wasn’t just our top tier players [who stood up on the weekend], it was the whole team,” Worsfold said.

“As a team and as a club I thought we saw some exciting things last week and now the challenge is to keep building on that and make it part of who we are.

“We are rapt for Shaun McKernan and it was a hard first 5 or 6 weeks of the year telling him he wasn’t in the team, because his form has been outstanding and his pre-season has been outstanding.

“We have a lot of players who would love to be in the team but they have to keep performing and then they will get their chance.

“You would have seen the announcement of the two boys playing [Ridley and Clarke], they are really highly respected young members of our group and just the fact of how excited everyone was that they were making their debuts gives everyone a lift.

Worsfold also mentioned Darcy Parish produced a solid performance after being omitted from the senior side, and the consistent performances of Aaron Francis.

“Parish really responded well to playing in the VFL and we were rapt with the way he went about it.

“He won a lot of the footy and worked really hard so that certainly means he is fit and available, putting his hand up for selection.

“Aaron Francis probably still needs a couple of weeks of full match play to get to his best but we are really excited with what we are seeing.”

Michael Hurley, Andrew McGrath and David Myers will be assessed at Wednesday’s main session and remain a chance to return to selection frame.

“They are all a chance this week depending on what boxes they can manage to tick in their training today.”