Essendon looked a much-improved outfit against Sydney on Sunday, however Senior Coach Dean Solomon remains frustrated by his side’s inability to be competitive early in games. 

Led by hard-fought performances from Vigo Visentini and Will Setterfield in the middle of the park, the Bombers worked their way back to within a couple of goals of the top-two Swans in the third term but couldn’t maintain the fightback.

Solomon balanced his first-term disappointment with optimism from the signs that followed in his post-game presser. 

Solomon on… the trend of ‘poor starts’ 

Much better after quarter time but it's a trend unfortunately, our first quarters are really poor. 

We're working to find out why, I just spoke to the players about that. It's a trend that we've got to turn around really quickly, it's great to play three quarters but that's just not going to get it done at AFL level, as we know. Yes, we've got a young group but we just can't accept that. 

We'll find out why - it's almost like we need the opposition to punch us in the face and then we get going, which is not how it works. We’ve got to be more proactive in the way that we play.  

Solomon on… the response 

That's the brand of footy we've been trying to establish for the last 13 weeks. We’ve been inconsistent but that's the brand we're chasing. ‘Gritty, not pretty’ is the style.  

(We want to play a brand of) footy that is heavily connected with each other, really compliant to each other, predictable to each other, consistent to each other, and just playing your simple role. 

To their credit, they didn't get (the win), but our boys didn't give up. They kept fighting and we did get a glimpse of what the future will look like - albeit at quarter time, the game's done, unfortunately. 

Solomon on… Visentini 

Very impressive. 

A mature young 20-year-old. He’s very handy with his craft and works his bum off – he’s a great character with a bright future but like all of our young players, we’ve got to ensure that he remains hungry to be the best he can be. 

We’ve got one game to go, but a big pre-season will only help him. He's showing some signs for sure.

Solomon on… McGrath’s upcoming milestone

Well, it's our Captain’s 200 game. He was fantastic tonight, Andy. He showed a lot of leadership.

I've known that when I was a player, we didn’t lose milestones and it's critically important we honour Andy, and we make sure we carry him off at the end of the year. 

Solomon on… the final round 

What do we get out of it? A lot. The momentum to the finishing line of this year is really important to the pre-season. We've got four quarters (left) and we need to finish the right way.

I'm a proud person. A lot of these players are at this football club. We have a lot of pride in what we do and we don't like it where we are.

I'm too competitive to worry about (draft picks). Every week, I'll just play to win.

We had seven players under 20 games today. Bit of a broken record and I say that all the time too, but there's a young group coming through that’s incredibly exciting and made of the right stuff. They want to be great.

Our sponsors and supporters and members are really disappointed with where we're at, but there's a lot to like with what it might look like in the next 40-to-60 games. 

This is where we dig in. We support each other and stay tight. We wade through the swamp together in the tough times and then we all get to celebrate the good times ahead.