Assistant coach Ashley Prescott conceded that poor execution of the football and wasted opportunities near goal cost the Bombers what could have been a handy victory heading into the ANZAC Day blockbuster against Collingwood next week.

Prescott said while the form shown by both North Melbourne and Essendon was well below their ability, the higher intensity shown in the Kangaroos’ attack on the football allowed them to seal the 12-point victory.

“Skill errors cost us enormously,” Prescott said.

“When you are turning the ball over regularly like we did, you have to work so much harder and we never really got any easy goals. Whether it was a poor kick or a poor handball, we turned the ball over too much and gave the Kangaroos an opportunity to attack from there.

“It certainly wasn’t a great game of football from both sides. Their skill errors kept us in the game at times but overall their work ethic and their appetite to win the hard ball was better than ours over the four quarters.

“Missing goals also hurt us because you score a point and then have to defend rather than the ball going back to the centre where you get a rest.

“Our inability to kick goals probably hurt us in the end but I don’t think we can blame the loss entirely on that area because I think intensity and run across the board wasn’t good enough today.“

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Prescott commended his side’s ability to continue to make the opposition work for possession and keep themselves in the game until the final siren.

“North Melbourne didn’t get a lot of inside fifties and I think our defence tried hard but I think our pressure went up when the game got more desperate,” Prescott said.

“When the game was even at the start, our defensive pressure wasn’t good enough. We sat off them too much and that probably says a bit in itself that when the group was challenged and wasn’t going so well, we lifted, but earlier on we didn’t turn up.

“I think the side showed some resilience to stick at it and to keep going to get themselves in a position where we were forcing the Kangaroos to make some errors and put a fair bit of pressure on them but I think as a collective group, we were below what is acceptable.”

Prescott said Essendon will focus heavily on their skills during the week and work to play to their strengths as they head into the ANZAC Day blockbuster against Collingwood on Saturday.

“I think we will be looking at our skills and focus on getting our offensive game going a little bit more,” Prescott said.

“I think when we made some mistakes early, we went into our shells and got a little bit spooked. We need to be better than that and challenge ourselves to put a little bit more speed on the ball and use our strengths which are run and carry and getting the ball in quick.”
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