Dean Solomon pointed to poor basic execution and a disappointing effort around the contest as the main takeaways from another frustrating result at the MCG on Saturday. 

A large chunk of the damage in Essendon’s 45-point defeat to the Demons was done early, with Kozzie Pickett fuelling an early lead and the Bombers clearly struggling around the contest. 

Despite a manful effort from Will Setterfield (a career-high 34 disposals) and the continued excitement around emerging youngsters like Jacob Farrow (22 touches at 82 per cent in the wet), the Dons as a collective still find themselves looking for consistency across four quarters. 

Solomon’s main talking points post-game:

Solomon on… ‘a very disappointing first half’ 

(Melbourne) are very good. I mean, they’re fifth on the ladder for a reason, they're playing a good brand of footy and we have the utmost respect for their footy club but we just weren’t there in the first half, it wasn’t our brand.  

(It wasn’t) the way we wanted to play - you know – we ended up minus 35 in contest, which is not how we wanted to look. A very disappointing first half, we’ve got to be better than that.

I'm not going to lean on the injuries. We should have been better today, it didn't matter who was on the field. We didn't like the way we played in the first half, the ‘game plan compliance’ component of today just wasn't where we needed it to be - it didn't matter who it was. 

Solomon on… seeking consistency 

I can't really sit here with KPIs but (it’s just about) a brand of footy, the passionate spirit that we play with. 

I reckon we saw it for two-and-a-half quarters against Carlton, we haven't got consistency in that yet. We make no apologies, we want it to be a bit more gritty than pretty, the way we play. A bit more Grand Final Day, that's the style we’re trying to coach.

Until we get the core essence of the game right - the contest - we have to build it up from there and we're not consistent enough yet in that area. 

Solomon on… areas of frustration

We were flicking it out of the contest when we wanted to hold it in. Ball security is really important. 

Basic fundamentals of the game just kill us, so the game's giving us feedback that we're not the level we need to be and that's what we spoke to the players about.

For the last two weeks, we've been really good in and around clearance, contested possession - I think we ranked one and one in those two areas for the last two games - small sample size, I get it. But it has been a shift in our game.

Today we got smashed in both those areas. We weren't there today. Even our contest shape, we gave up the corridor way too much. Our ball use, decision making, fundamentals, and early we didn't squeeze the ground in our team defence. 

It’s disappointing because Mason Redman, 150 games, a great person for this football club, we want to make it a thing that we don't lose milestones and we let him down today.

Solomon on… moving Merrett back into the middle 

We had to stimulate something. We couldn't keep doing what we're doing, so we had to have a different look. 

We thought the first 10 or 12 minutes in the 3rd quarter looked like what we wanted, we moved the ball better, we got time in forward half, repeat entries. We just couldn't hold on to it, so that was the reason we did move Zach back into the middle there. 

I'd like to continue with him half back at this point in time, obviously we’ve got other coaches to discuss that with, but it'll depend on team balance too – Archie Roberts’ shoulder is popped, so we wait to find out how long that will be as well. That’ll determine a fair bit. 

Solomon on… injuries to Roberts and Langford, Ridley’s return

Obviously (Archie’s) eyes are down, he's pretty disappointed with what's happened. He’s had a good start to the year, he's a heavily driven young man, he's a leader of this football club. We'll wrap our arms around him. 

They’re not sure at the moment (regarding Langford), it’s not confirmed that it is actually anything. His quad got tight. Initially they thought there might have been a strain but it might be a positive outcome there.

It’s a small win today, getting ‘Rids’ back, a game under his belt. He’ll be better for that, we've got 14 or 15 days until we play our next game now, so he’ll get an opportunity to recover. 

Solomon on… response, resetting post-bye

We’ve got the bye now and four-to-six days off. What’s the mindset when we come back?

You know, we can go two ways here. We can roll over or we can push back on the game and get to work and ensure that we finish with momentum, and that's what we want to chase.

I've got to focus on what I need to focus on as an interim coach. I’ve got to ensure that this club, these players, this team plays in a way that's more competitive than today and I take responsibility for that. 

We’ll keep driving those standards. We're not going to go away, we’re going to support (the players), but we're going to keep driving high standards to ensure that we tidy that up.