King's Birthday Eve was a case of deja vu for Essendon, who again recovered from a sluggish start and produced some inspired footy only to fall just short of a win for the second week running.
The eight-point defeat to Carlton held some promising signs - particularly from their emerging young core of talent - but Senior Coach Brad Scott is adamant in his focus on the group proving their capability 'right now', not satisfied with a losing result.
Scott's talking points from Sunday's post-game presser:
Scott on... building, not getting comfortable
We’re really focused on what's right in front of us right now, and we think we're a capable team, but there's still a gap between where the best teams are and where we are.
We’re competitive people. We should never be satisfied coming away (and) not getting what we’re after. We’ll never be comfortable or satisfied with that, but hopefully what our fans are optimistic about is what we’re building.
You can build for the future without it being at the expense of ‘right now’.
Scott on... slow starts
We got jumped again in the first quarter and then responded really well, which is obviously very frustrating because once we got some things straightened up, the last two weeks we gave ourselves a good opportunity, but the reality is we weren't able to finish.
We certainly had the opportunities, we just didn't quite take them, and you look at (the moment where) players sort of stopped for what they thought was a free kick in the middle of the ground and they got out the back and kicked an easy goal. I think they kicked some pretty easy ones and we weren't able to take our opportunities.
Scott on... Parish's return
Darcy’s worked really hard.
He's been really unlucky with injury, you know, he's such a dynamic player and we've been frustrated over the last two or three years that we haven't had real continuity from him, but he showed tonight, after a long way off, just what a quality player he is, so very happy as have him back inside.
Scott on... youth
There's no doubt we're optimistic about what's to come, but we're really focused on what's right in front of us right now.
I think it's exciting for our fans to see tonight a first gamer, a second gamer, a third gamer, a fourth gamer, and not just playing bit part roles.
Clarke, Day-Wicks, Roberts and Lual all had their moments tonight, which is really encouraging for the future, but we've obviously built our list and we've invested a lot in those players.