Essendon captain Jobe Watson has breathed a sigh of relief as the Bombers posted their first win of the season in what was a hard-fought battle against Carlton at the MCG tonight.
“It was very pleasing to get a win today, it was very much a relief in the end. It has been a tough week so it was nice to win,” Watson said.
“The guys had two fantastic debuts tonight and they should be incredibly proud of their performance,” Watson said.
“It was nice to see the young guys doing well. The work-rate they showed tonight and their ability to throw themselves in was fantastic and they are going to be really, really good players for us.”
The Bombers improved vastly on their performance against Fremantle last week, putting their bodies on the line around stoppages and providing pressure when Carlton were in possession.
“I thought Tayte Pears and the rest of the guys down back were terrific tonight,” Watson said.
“The defensive unit worked really hard today from start to finish today. They started all of our attacks but were also able to limit the other guys from scoring which was pleasing.”
As the Bombers prepare to head west to take on the Eagles next week, Watson says they will need to focus on maintaining their intensity for the entire match and not allowing the opposition easy goals.
“There were probably patches where we fell off a little bit and allowed Carlton to work themselves back into the game and it is something that we will need to correct against West Coast next week,” Watson said.
