Football operations manager, Paul Hamilton, said the Bombers were hurt in their game against Port Adelaide today by a slow start and a failure to take advantage of forward entries.
""It is disappointing to end up letting the margin blow out a little in the end but the players showed good spirit today after a poor start,"" he said.
""The main positive to take out of the game today was the Essendon debuts of Michael Hurley and and Hayden Skipworth.
""That one-on-one mark that Hurley took against Tredrea near goals was an excellent show of strength was hopefully a sign of things to come. He really impressed the football department today.
""Skipworth showed some really good signs today and played the role he was asked to play which was pleasing. I think he will continue to improve from here.
""Another player I was very impressed with was Alwyn Davey, especially given he has just come back from a knee recontruction.
""He showed some spark and each week he has gotten better through the pre-season to now - he looked dangerous and put them under pressure.
""Jobe Watson and Adam McPhee were also very impressive. Adam's effort and spirit was good - he copped some knocks and got up again and his attack on the ball was very good which is what we wanted.""
Hamilton said the obvious area the Bombers needed to do better in was in the middlle.
""It's difficult when you are on the back foot in the middle and it puts too much pressure on your defenders,"" he said.
""We were inefficient going forward and Port got a lot of their rebound coming from us missing these targets and not taking our opportunities.""
