Essendon were outclassed by West Coast in most of the key areas of the game according to assistant coach Alan Richardson.

""We shouldn't have been beaten in and around the ball but clearance numbers will reflect that we were, hard ball gets will also indicate we were pretty poor in that area and then I think the run from the stoppages, as the game wore on, on they were able to get on top of us,"" he said.

""We had as many inside 50s so failed to make the most of our opportunities and we used the ball as poorly as we have all year so they're massive components of the game and when you get beaten in those areas you are going to struggle.

""We had opportunities going forward early but didn’t make the most of it, we looked a little off our game early in terms of intensity and speed.

""I think, at the risk of sounding like making excuses, to have Davey's speed couple with having Winderlich out of the team and Lovett getting a bad corky early and Dempsey being controlled by them, we lost a bit of our run and creativity and couldn't get the ball into the hands of those blokes that can really break the game open.""
 
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Richardson said the game of Paddy Ryder was ""enormous"".

""Ryder had to play about 90% of the game in the ruck and was very good. I also thought Michael Hurley bounced back well from last week, Tayte Pears was good in terms of stopping his direct opponent if not winning the ball.

""Fletcher was good and Monfries was ok early. I thought McPhee gave us a bit of life when he went forward and Neagle showed a bit in the second half too.""

Richardson said the coaches will address a number of issues with the players during the week and is confident the side will be better for it against Brisbane.