Senior Coach Dean Solomon fronted the media after Essendon's loss to Brisbane at the Gabba on Sunday afternoon.

Solomon acknowledged the challenge of competing against one of the competition's benchmark sides, saying the experience highlighted the standards the Bombers are working towards.

He also stressed the importance of building confidence and belief within the playing group, with the Club focused on creating lasting improvement through hard work rather than looking for quick fixes.

All the key talking points from Solomon's press conference are below.

Solomon on… learning from the benchmark

We got great exposure. We need to explore the taste of what it is to be the best, how it looks and how it feels.

We're a long way off it, and you can only start somewhere and head somewhere, and it's this group that are going to do it.

That's the outcome of a lot of work, and we've got to get to work, and we have been the last three to five weeks.

We create an environment that really works on our fundamentals, pressured to unpressured, learning environment, how to engage, how to problem solve, working on our leadership - there's a lot we're doing, it's not transferring at the moment.

For our members and our supporters, we want you to stick strong and be patient, and that's how we're going to build it, and there is no shortcut here.

Solomon on… building belief under pressure

Our second half has actually been there this year. So from a fitness point of view, Matt Inness and his team have set this team up to run out games a lot better than we have in the past.

There is a lot of confidence we can take from that, but we just haven't started well as a team. And when the opposition apply that pressure, we can't handle the pressure at the moment, and it's just a lack of confidence and belief that the playing group currently has.

And how you build belief? Belief is through hard work, doing the work and, as I said, that's what we're building, an environment to ensure that they can start building that belief, and when pressure comes on to us, we can execute at a high level and at the moment we're not.

Solomon on… experimenting against quality opposition

We got great exposure, Nate Caddy went into centre bounce, Isaac Kako into centre bounce, Andy McGrath goes to half-forward, so we've had a look at different things.

We've got to measure ourselves, or look at the best and learn from the best and, as we keep talking about, it does start somewhere.

But what we are doing and what we have done for the last five or six weeks during the week, we've turned the dial on our fundamentals, we've turned the dial in the way we engage our leadership.

It hasn't transferred at the moment, but I still do believe at some point throughout the next five or six rounds, we will see improvement as an outcome.

Solomon on… what drives selection

We're turning the dial on individual players, on how much they make an impact without the ball in their hand, and that's what we've been judging our best selection off.

That's the standard we're trying to drive, how much they can impact the game without the ball in their hand.

There's also the engagement levels during the week, there's leadership, so there's a lot that goes into the pot when we judge individuals.

But we need people who want to be part of the solution, and that's what we look at in each individual, and that's how we assess them during the week, and that's what we'll continue to look for for the rest of this season.

I'm not really interested about the ball in hand at the moment, I'm really interested in how much they can impact on the game without the ball in hand.

Solomon on… backing in Zach Merrett

I'll keep protecting Zach because for me and the coaching group, he's been sensational.

He's led the way for a long period of time at this football Club, he's been a massive support the last five or six weeks for me.

I've got to be fair and take all things into consideration, he's been huge for this football Club and for me. He had a down one tonight, but I'm not going to jump on that.

Solomon on… Peter Wright’s impact

It's nice to have him back, second game now (since overcoming injury).

There was a good duel between those two (Wright and Harris Andrews), Harris is a superstar of the game.

Our ball use at times just doesn't support what Pete wanted to do, and shallow entries would bounce.

So we'll try to play faster. Those turnovers have cost us a lot on the bounce.

So, we'll continue to get to work.

Solomon on… the path ahead

We're hurting as a football Club, we understand that, but we are going to be part of the solution.

We are going to turn this football Club and it starts somewhere. We're going through some tough times and there's some really solid learnings.

We'll keep at it and we'll turn this football Club.