Dealing with an Essendon loss has been a rare event for the past two seasons, but last week the Bombers went down to Brisbane at the Gabba. Only Carlton can also lay claim to beating the premiers this year.

But the Bombers are not a team who dwell on their losses. According to Sean Wellman, the post-game analysis and mid-week routine is much the same as any other week and the team are fired up for St Kilda this Friday.

“We always go through the game, whether we win or lose,” he said. “We probably put a bit more emphasis on the game if we do lose. We obviously haven’t played as well or haven’t done things as well so we go through ways we can improve for the next game, so we’re not making the same mistakes.

“We’re looking forward to the next match even more than usual. And we’re lucky that we have a six-day break with a Friday night match so we get to the next game fairly quickly and try and get back on the winning list.

Wellman says there is little time spent reflecting on the loss. After a quick review the team moves on to focusing on the next game.

“Early in the week we obviously go through the game – play Saturday night and go through the game on the Monday, but then it’s on to the next game. And that’s win, lose or draw,” he said.

But when you are as successful as Essendon, a loss can deliver some benefits to the team, like learning from mistakes.

“It’s not a positive thing to lose a game of football, but you can get something out of it,” said Wellman. “You learn the opposition’s tactics and look at how you played so you will be better off next time when you are in that situation. Then you can have games where you didn’t play that well but still get away with a win.”

“Brisbane was a loss but we’re still top of the ladder and still in a good position and now we are really focusing on St Kilda and Adelaide and hopefully all will go well, we will play well and go into the break in a pretty strong position for the second half of the year when we will get a lot of players back.”

Wellman believes this week’s game against the Saints will be tough, particularly given the reasonable form of the side this year.

“St Kilda’s form has been pretty good, they have been unlucky not to win a lot of games. If you look at where they have been after three-quarter time, they have often been in a strong position. They are definitely not the team they were last year. Towards the end of last year they lost a bit of competitiveness, but this year they have been competitive and I’m sure the game will be tough.”