Senior Coach Dean Solomon fronted the media after Essendon’s 72-point loss to Adelaide at Marvel Stadium on Sunday.

Solomon discussed the Crows’ dominance, Peter Wright’s on and off-field leadership, Angus Clarke’s injury worries and the young Bombers’ response ahead of next week’s clash with Geelong.

All the key talking points below:

Solomon on… Crows’ performance and Essendon’s defensive lapses

Obviously, it was disappointing, in the end the size of a score, a 72-point loss.

It's been a bit of a theme over the past five, six weeks. 

We concede one, it becomes two, three, four very quickly, so a 66-point differential in red-time is something we need to look at and address.

We do have 12 players in their first, second, or third year as well, part of that, I think eight teenagers. 

So, that's part of it, but it can't be the leverage point. We spoke to the young group, and they've got to learn really quickly that that can't be acceptable, even though their age is very young. 

(The coaching group is asking) How can we support them? How do I support them better as a coach to ensure that that two or three goals doesn't become four or five later in quarters. 

I think I can support that a bit more as well. 

But to Adelaide's credit, they were sharp. 

Contested marks were 3-17, so the big boys stood up. 

All in all, there are patches that we did like, and we did see the brand that we're chasing, but all in all, it's a disappointing result. 

Solomon on… strategy around Adelaide’s dominant tall forwards

We changed some personnel. Mason Redman went back, Harrison Jones went forward, so we had different looks. 

The reality is that we don't have any talls in-form that we could have brought into the team. 

We spoke about this halfway through the third quarter, there was absolutely no one that we could have bought in with any confidence, unfortunately, to match those big talls. 

I actually thought Kyle Langford competed really hard all day, he was outsized, but he did quite well. 

Solomon on… Peter Wright’s performance and leadership

Wright’s last six weeks have been sensational, not just from output on game day, but just his leadership, the way that he's really picked that forward line. 

I think every player in that forward line outside of himself are teenagers, Nate Caddy's probably the second or third oldest. 

The way he's led that group has been sensational, the way that he's showed leadership within the whole group, it's been a significant shift and growth for Pete, and there’s no doubt that game day has just been an outcome of that mindset. 

He got a bit of reward today, I'm really happy for him. 

It's critically important that our leaders lead and they've been trying and it's obviously a difficult situation we're in. 

It sounds funny, but we're sick of losing, and they are sick of losing. 

A lot of our leaders have been sensational in difficult circumstances. 

We haven't seen the reward on the weekend yet, but Pete's a good example that individually, he got some reward today. 

Solomon on… Angus Clarke’s injury

His year's been really interrupted with injury. 

There is concussion there, but there's also a bit of soreness in the neck. 

They're going to take him to the hospital now, just to check further to make sure there's no real damage there, but they're pretty confident he's fine.

It's frustrating for him because he's a good young man, and he's hungry to be a really good player, and he shows signs, and you get excited by that, but you just can't get continuity in his game at the moment. 

I'd say he probably will (need a knee scan) as a hyper extend. 

I'm assuming they will scan that to see what damage is there, but he did come back on post-that. We are confident in the space that he'll be okay in that sense it's more just checking his neck now. 

Solomon on… the group’s mindset and supporting the players

To be honest, this group is pretty driven and it's pretty hungry, it's disappointed right now, but I know when they open their eyes tomorrow, they want to get after Geelong. 

The way they walk in on Tuesday, they'll be looking in the right direction. They won't hold onto this for too long. 

They want to learn, they want us as coaches to provide the examples of where they broke down and they want to learn from it, individually and collectively. 

They want to get after the opposition, they want to be better, which is exciting, especially for such a young group. 

I know supporters and members are really frustrated with where everything is at, and I get it. 

But there's also a very exciting group coming through, and the next 40 to 60 games will be a development phase, but this Club will bounce pretty quickly, and it'll be exciting. 

I just encourage your fans and members to support this young group through the tough times, because it's going to turn and they're very hungry. 

Solomon on… looking ahead to Cats challenge

We’ve got a six day turn and we’ve got Geelong in Geelong, we're straight back into it.

I'll have discussions with the Club the next couple of days and work through the bigger picture stuff, but that's not my priority. 

We’ve got three games to go and the patches we saw when we played good footy today, we have to grow on those patches, they’ve got to become bigger within quarters, and I've got to support the players better, late in quarters. 

That's my major focus.