It came under dramatic circumstances, but the Bombers secured a fourth win of their campaign on Thursday night, scraping past a desperate North Melbourne by three points.
Down two on the bench with Jordan Ridley, Harry Jones and Jade Gresham all out of the game late, the Dons were forced to cling on in a tense final five minutes, with their six-goal first term ultimately making the difference in the result.
Senior Coach Brad Scott fronted the media post-game.
Scott on… adapting to adversity
It was a pretty tight tussle and a tough game as we expected.
There can be concern when you look across and you’re a couple of players down and you have to reshuffle players into positions that (aren’t) their primary or secondary roles.
I thought the players were pretty calm and composed in that situation, which was pleasing.
The thing I was really pleased with tonight was the resilience and the character of the group
We obviously had some adversity in the last quarter.
Coaches are always loathed to individualise but we just had some individuals that stood up in big moments.
Scott on… injuries
The Jones one, a dislocated ankle is the minimum. He’ll go to hospital, have further assessments and see if there’s further damage there.
Ridley, hamstring, fresh injury, unrelated to anything he’s had prior, in his 100th game, we’ve talked about his rollercoaster career.
Clearly we rate him extremely highly and he’s had to overcome some adversity.
He’s been through it before and he’ll be back.
Gresham couldn’t come back on late with a bit of adductor tightness, so we’ll get that checked.
Scott on… morale, next man up
It’s just another test of character.
Character’s a hard thing to measure, talent is pretty easy to identify, the hard things to measure are the intangibles.
Character and resilience really only reveal themselves under adversity.
We get an opportunity to stand up again under a bit of pressure.
We’re going to have to find some players but that’s opportunity.
We’ve had quite a few players in our emergencies multiple weeks in a row, so clearly we think they’re ready.
We’re 4-3, won four of our last five, I think it’s a real positive but it’s certainly a challenge for our team and our resilience, we play in close games.
If you look at our margins over the last 18 months, it’s pretty tight.
Scott on… Zach Merrett
No arguments from me (with him being best on ground).
What makes him so good? How long have you got?
It’s unfair to make too many comparisons but this oen’s appropriate. He reminds me so much of Nathan Buckley in his will to win.
He’s so driven. Merrett backs that up with work ethic, he works on his craft every day, he’s always seeking to get better.
The other part of his game that’s developed enormously is his leadership on and off-field.
He’s taking others with him, he wants to drag others with him.
