ESSENDON coach Matthew Knights says quality of disposal was a key reason behind his side dropping a first-half lead to lose to the Western Bulldogs by 33 points.

Speaking after the game, the Bombers coach said the Bulldogs blew his side away with their foot skills.

“It was an exciting contest albeit not many goals were getting scored. I think we went back into our shell a little bit ourselves when we had the ball in the third quarter we stopped and propped a little bit,” Knights said.

“We didn’t move the ball as quickly as I would have liked. The Bulldogs kept up their intensity and I really think their foot skills really come to the fore over the journey of the game. I thought there wasn’t much difference in the first half but I thought their disposal in the second half was a standout and we couldn’t maintain that effectiveness with our disposal.”

Knights said his team struggled to cope with the exhaustion that came from a free flowing game with few stoppages and goals in the first half.

“We got a bit tired and fatigued and couldn’t hit our targets as well as they could. That’s a learning thing from this game that we’ve got to keep having high standards with that skill execution,” he said.

“It was up and down the ground there weren’t a lot of stoppages and it was quite taxing on both groups. It is fair to say we didn’t capitalise on our entries as well as we could in the first half. In the second half you give a lot of credit to (Brian) Lake and (Tom) Williams. They just marked the ball a lot.”

But Knights didn’t have to look too far to find a positive in his young side.

First-round draft pick Michael Hurley looked more than comfortable in just his third senior game. He was composed in defence before making his presence felt up forward.

“I’m really proud of Michael tonight. He played on Scott Welsh who is a very experienced player. We pushed him forward late and he got on the lead and marked one,” Knights said.

“He’s got a great ability to get off his man. He’s got a huge hunger for the game and a huge willingness to compete. I think we’re fortunate we’ve got a fabulous young player for the future either at forward or back.”