A seventh consecutive loss for the Bombers has continued a challenging run over the second half of this season, but defender Mia Busch is optimistic in what lies ahead for her side. 

Fronting up against premier sides such as North Melbourne (first), Melbourne (second) and Brisbane (fourth) in recent weeks has seen a mixed bag, with the Bombers often competitive in different stretches but unable to keep up their work down the stretch.

For Busch, it’s that experience against the league’s best that will in turn get the best out of the group going forward – even if results have been harder to come by in the last couple of months. 

Busch chatted to essendonfc.com.au after Sunday’s defeat to the Lions, her eyes firmly drawn to the final two games of the Club’s season against Hawthorn and Sydney. 

Busch on… the challenge of facing top sides

We reviewed them pretty hard going in. 

It just reiterated what we already thought, their ability to handball chain and their execution and predictability to each other – they’re a core group that’ve been playing together for a while.

They’re up there with the best and we want to be (playing) the best because that’s how we get better. 

We set out with a very clear objective for the whole team to play a certain role and it didn’t come off.

There’s some part of us that’s proud of the (competitiveness) and the effort we put out there, we all controlled what we could and had some great pressure and defensive acts. 

We’ll review as a group, see where it’s broken down and really tweak up some things for next week against Hawthorn.

Busch on… elevating her output down back this season 

It helps playing in a backline that’s so connected and we are empowered in what’s expected of us.                                                      

It makes it really easy to fall back on and display your strengths when you’ve got people talking, blocking, spoiling for you – when I’ve got comms, I can press to impact and get some good contested ball.

Busch on… Pride Round, her pride in the jumper

Pride rounds are so important and are really great to play, for what it represents. We're so proud to be out there and wear this jumper with heaps of pride in ourselves. 

When we are at Windy Hill, we play with pride and we have a lot of pride in our community, so there’s just a lot to play for.

We don’t need to talk to get us up and about, wearing this jumper gets us up and about.