Although impressed with a far better contested ball and clearance showing, Essendon Interim Senior Coach Dean Solomon pointed to a lack of polish as a key factor in their 30-point road loss to the Eagles on Sunday.

Solomon said his troops handled a difficult week for the Club quite well in the buildup but are still adapting to immediate changes off a quick turnaround, seen in structural moves like Ben McKay pushing forward and Michael Hurley slotting in as a defensive coach.

Sullivan Robey’s manful fight in the middle (was also pointed to as another positive from Solomon’s first game at the helm.

Solomon on… a challenging week

It’s been a tough week. There's no doubt about that.

The players and staff, early in the week it really affected them as it should and would. But I felt like the last 48 hours, we sort of gathered ourselves and really connected and got focused.

We tweaked a few things, and it looked like the way we wanted to play for a good period of time. There was a period from the 18-minute mark of the second quarter, through to the 18-minute mark of the third quarter, where we conceded eight goals, and we lost our composure with ball in hand, we lost our heads.

Our discipline was not where we needed it to be. We couldn't get the game back on our terms, and to West Coast’s credit, their pressure went up, their contested possession went up and we really respect what they're doing.

Solomon on… Robey’s battle with Harley Reid

Yeah, he's a real find. We gave him some real exposure on Harley Reid early in the game, it was a good matchup and then in the second quarter, he got caught forward a bit.

It was great to watch that, but Sully’s a ripper. He's a student of the game. You know, he wants to absorb as much information as possible, be the best player he can be, and he'll give himself every chance.

We love him being part of our football club.

Solomon on… adapting, focuses going forward

It’s only really the last sort of 48 hours, we've been able to coach a new game plan.

We're looking to build it from how we are in the contest, we thought our ground ball was better tonight. 

At times, we felt like we collapsed in the corridor, (we need to) maintain a bit of stability there. And then our team defence is something we continue to work on, it's been an issue for a period of time.

The contest, our shape, and our team defence, that’s what we're focusing on for the next 12 weeks. 

Solomon on… moving McKay ahead of the ball

I've worked with Ben throughout the season as his defensive coach and I've just seen traits that I liked where I thought could go forward and impact the game.

I said that to him about seven weeks ago, if he’d ever played forward? So we got the opportunity just to make some decisions around that, threw it up to the coaches. We discussed it, and we thought he had some reasonable impact.

There was a bit to work with there with, I reckon, and he'll get better as the weeks go on.

Right here, right now, absolutely (we’ll persist with it). He got told yesterday morning he was going to play as a forward. So, to his credit, he absorbs the information, goes and studies it, and puts his craft to work.

There are parts of what we saw tonight that we liked. There are part that he can improve, absolutely.

I’d like to see (Zach Reid) go forward at times, so it might be Ben and ‘Reidy’ swapping at times, depending on what the game's giving us. I like my players to have a bit of flexibility.

Solomon on… Archie May’s injury

(The dislocation) is all I know. He was in our team meeting, so he's doing fine, but length of time, et cetera, whether it's surgery or not surgery, I have no idea at this point in time.

We only had one of our leaders out there today but you know what, it is what it is. Every team has it, every club has it, but we’re going to use this period of time as a good opportunity to give exposure (to young players) to go and play and use it as an education piece.

We're not going to waste (the next 12 weeks). We’re not going to sort of dwell on it. It is what it is, we need to continue to get better.

Solomon on… being at the helm

Obviously, I'm very grateful for this opportunity. I didn't want it to be this way (and under these circumstances) but we're here now, and I'm just going to embrace the opportunity.

I mean, the other coaches, all the staff have been amazing in their support, and honestly, it’s not just me. It's all of us pulling together and driving this club, this group, to the finishing line with momentum, it's really important.

It's been a whirlwind. We’ll take a breath overnight, review the game, and then try and find a bit of rhythm this week, and we get into it. But all coaches, all staff and the players have been amazing. We’ll do this together.

I control what I can control, focus on what I have to focus on, and that's leading this club, these staff members and the players in the short-term.

Solomon on… travelling leaders

In a really ordinary situation, that was probably one of the positives. McGrath and Redman off their own backs, put their hands up (to travel with the team).

I think Andy only had his pretty significant operation three or four days earlier, so it speaks volumes for those two leaders within our football club.

It was nice to spend a bit of time in the last 24, 48 hours, at the hotel and on the road together. But we'll push through this together, and as I said, there's enough sample size tonight for us to work upon.

Durham and Redman should be the two that we’ll get back, two experienced leaders of our football club. Between here and the bye, which is two more games, we'll get around 10 players back which will help us in the back end.