Assistant coach Mark Harvey was put under the pump this week with your hard-hitting questions in ‘Ask the Coach’. Harvey discusses the reasons for Essendon’s second half fade out against Fremantle and suggests that it is the players relaxed manner that is to blame. Harvey also suggests that Jason Laycock could find himself in the senior side in the near future in place of ruckman David Hille.

1. The Bombers seem to achieve a great lead, then take their foot off the pedal. More than once this has happened – why do you think that is? (Bill Houdley)
A. I think it is the toughness of the competition. People fail to realise the expectation and the pressure that every club faces week in and week out. However, the fade-outs have been a problem on a few occasions for us this season and it is something we have to look at. It appears to be a relaxed manner by our players once they get six to eight goals up that causes this. If we are fortunate enough to get in that position again and we see players dropping off, they will be coming off the ground to remind them not to fall into that mind-set.

Another reason for the fade-outs is that we have been giving the young players game time. There is no question that Kevin’s philosophy is always to give as much game time (if you are in that situation of being six or more goals up) to young players for their development and the club’s development.

2. What do you think the reason was for our poor kicking for goal in the first quarter that might have had us 50 – 60 points up at quarter time? (Maddalena Galli)
A. I think a lot of them were long-range shots. They were from 40 – 50 metres out and most were on the run. The players that had shots were also under a fair bit of pressure when they were taking their shots for goals, so I don’t think it is a big issue.

3. Will Sheeds give the younger players more game time against a struggling Hawthorn and give the older, more experienced players a rest in preparation for the big game against Brisbane next week? (Orry Kara)
A. You certainly don’t want to flirt with form and that is a big issue. Hawthorn has come under a fair bit of pressure over the course of the week and you always have to be very guarded about how you prepare your players mentally for this kind of upcoming game. Our players will be on notice about Hawthorn’s situation and we won’t be resting any senior players.

4. What happened against Fremantle on Friday night – in the first half we played like the best team in the league. The second half was the worst football I have seen the Bombers play in a long time – it was disgraceful. I don’t blame Sheeds for abusing them because they deserved it. Please tell me what went wrong in the second half. (David Cowling)
A. People say the second half was the worst they have seen. I am just wondering if Kevin’s criticism after the game of the team is then reflective of how people think. There are a few things that happened internally that I can’t talk about, but we allowed them too much uncontested football and that resulted in a few players being caught out for us. That was basically what it was.

5. Is Jason Laycock a chance to get into the senior side soon? (Suzanne Kavanagh)
A. He is. David (Hille) hasn’t been in the best of form. I think Jason is basically had two best on grounds since he has come back, so he only needs to string another few good games together and we will certainly have a look at him. The best part is that he is playing in the ruck now and he is evolving in that area, not just in the forward line.

If you had to compare him to a modern day ruckman playing footy, he is a little bit like ‘Spider’ Everitt.’ He is that tall and he can push forward and kick goals. So we might put ‘Spider’ on ‘Spider’ this week! No, that probably won’t happen this week!

When Laycock comes in, it will be a direct swap for David Hille. At this stage of Jason’s career that is how it would be.