Approaching a critical point of the campaign, Essendon VFL skipper Xavier O'Neill hasn't lost any hope in his side's push for a first reserves finals berth since 2019.

Although the Bombers dropped away late in a winnable fixture against North Melbourne last week, O'Neill hopes a thorough review and some home truths will galvanise the group to bounce back and fight tooth-and-nail to stake their claim for September footy.

Just two clear games out of the finals picture, the importance of the next month isn't lost on the Captain. 

O'Neill on...  on the highs and lows of the season thus far

We’ve had a fluctuating season. Our best footy has been really good, and our bad footy has not been at the required level. The gap between the two is too large and it’s cost us games.

In saying that, we’ve seen a lot of growth in our young players including the first-year AFL boys which has been positive. Ultimately, we’ve let games slip that we could’ve won, and now we’re in a tougher position charging towards finals.

O'Neill on... the round 14 loss to the Roos

It was a hard loss. As a team we sat down and watched a fair bit of footage, the main take away was that we were outworked. We had a good, honest chat about what the vision showed and there were key moments in the second half where it was our time to go, and we didn’t.

This led to consistent break downs that resulted in scoreboard damage, and after a few of those we fell over.

It’s on us leaders to educate and take ownership of the state of the game. As well as individuals playing their role and putting their head over the footy when it’s their time to go.

O'Neill on... the importance of momentum entering the back end of the season

It’s more important now than ever, we have a big couple of months approaching.

We are playing for our season and need a strong finish to make finals. The focus will be on putting ourselves in a position to win games as opposed to relying on strong patches of footy throughout a game, we’ll look to bring our strengths into the second half and grind oppositions down.

The emphasis will be on consistency across four quarters which results in our best footy.

O'Neill on... maintaining connection

It began in pre-season, the group spent a lot of time together especially on camp. This made for an environment in which deficiencies and required areas of improvement can be addressed through honesty, with awareness of feedback coming from a genuine place of care to better the individual and team.

Any negative perception of criticism and the inability to take feedback on board was stamped out.

Holding the squad to a high training standard through understanding of the importance of those opportunities during the week to refine particular areas required on game day. As a leader, working with the coaches to ensure the group are held accountable to the desired behaviours alongside rewarding those displayed behaviours through positive reinforcement and recognition by highlighting that as a group.

We have those in leadership positions, however, the best teams have all individuals setting and holding the standards. We’ve got young guys in their late teens to early 20s that have been in the VFL system a few years now, having played multiple games, they understand the level and are just as important to uphold those standards.

Whether it be on debut or their 50th state level match, with 23 blokes instructing and providing feedback we’re bound to be a better side.

O'Neill on... the camaraderie of the current group

Despite those that come and go, we’ve had a great, connected group the past few years.

This squad is really good, a young group which brings great emphasis to the educational aspect. However, youth brings enthusiasm and a joyfulness that is fun to be around and great fun to play with. We’ve got good characters that are reliable and trustworthy.

You see guys come in and they’re a bit shy at the start and then they come out of the shell and become key characters around the group that have an ability on the field too, Jake Egan (Essendon VFL first-year player) has made a big impact in that sense. Deacon Kalpakis (2026 mid-season recruit) has been here for a month, but the boys love him, he’s strong on field and has become really dependable.

Kristian Ferronato and Jaxon Binns (Essendon VFL first-year players) have brought great experience. It’s important for a young group to feel like they can be themselves, and both of them have been big in being themselves. They’ve also brought importance on gameday, being protective and setting the standard.

O'Neill on... the quiet achievers

Kieran Gallagher (Essendon VFL second-year player) and Ryan Brodie (Essendon VFL third-year player) play a selfless hard role down back as small defenders. They’re weapons in offence and bring great flair but at times they have to park that for the benefit of the team. They play lock down roles on dangerous forwards, and I really like playing with them because I know what I’m going to get from them.

Noah Scott (Essendon VFL second-year player) brings pressure and energy around the ball, whether he disposes of it or not the impact he has due to his presence is really important for us. Boston Dowling (Essendon VFL first-year player) has seen immense growth in his game lately having to shoulder a heavy ruck-load due to injuries. His contest work and overall combativeness has seen great improvement.

O'Neill on... rallying the side to finish the year

The main part is ensuring that the themes we’ve committed to for the year remain at the forefront of our mind.

These are centred around our defence. We know that we can play good footy, at times we’ve shown were a good transition team in offence but focusing on defending transition and improving to be able to defend fast football against the best teams in the competition.