Essendon senior coach Ben Rutten faced the media at the NEC Hangar on Wednesday ahead of the Bombers' Friday night clash with Geelong at GMHBA Stadium.
Here are the key takeaways from Rutten's media conference.
1. No fears for GMHBA Stadium
Essendon will head down the road to face the Cats at Kardinia Park for AFL premiership points for the first time since 1993.
With GMHBA Stadium posing as a formidable fortress for visiting teams, Rutten said his young brigade would embrace the experience and not be overawed by the occasion.
“We had a good opportunity in the pre-season. We were able to play Geelong down there in one of our warm-up games,” Rutten said.
“We’ve had some recent experience of playing down there. Based on our performance in the pre-season, playing there doesn’t hold any fears for us.
“We want to be a team that unconditionally plays wherever.”
2. Francis returns home
Rutten confirmed defender Aaron Francis had returned home to South Australia as he continues to manage mental health issues.
The 23-year-old will hopefully be back at the NEC Hangar next week pending state coronavirus restrictions.
"We would expect him back (at the club) later this week," Rutten said.
"All things being equal, we understand it's a moving, changing landscape.
“Our expectations are we're hoping he'll be back."
3. Combating Geelong’s talls
Essendon’s backline will have its hands full on Friday night when it takes on a tall Geelong attack.
The Cats’ forward line boasts four key targets, including Tom Hawkins (198cm), Jeremy Cameron (196cm), Esava Ratugolea (197cm) and Gary Rohan (189cm).
When pressed on whether the Bombers can cover Geelong’s plethora of talls, Rutten said the Dons had options to limit their influence.
"We've got some options there,” he said.
“We're just weighing up whether (Jordan) Ridley will be able to handle that extra tall when he needs to."
4. Attitude the key
After falling 11 points short of toppling the ladder-leading Demons, the Bombers are set for another stern test against one of the competition’s best on Friday night.
Rutten said he expected Geelong to be keen to respond after its 44-point loss to fellow flag favourite Brisbane last week.
Yet rather than a feeling of flight, the young Dons will be up for the fight against the Cats.
“We just want to go down there with the right attitude and take it up to them,” Rutten said.
“We saw last week with Brisbane, the way they attacked them and went after them was a really good indicator of how to beat any team really.
“We know Geelong are a strong, mature team and they’ll be looking to bounce back.”
5. Dev’s discipline
Rutten was subjected to two questions about forward Devon Smith giving away a 50-metre penalty in the second quarter against Melbourne last week.
Smith was penalised for abuse and subsequently turned an initial 50-metre infringement into a 100-metre penalty, costing the Bombers a goal.
While the senior coach acknowledged the 2018 Crichton medallist was a strong contributor when playing 'on edge', Rutten said he had spoken to Smith about improving his discipline.
“Dev’s aware of that,” he said.
“We don’t want that lack of discipline in our game and Dev’s aware of that. The umpires got the better of him on the weekend and it’s something Dev is getting better at.
“When he plays on the edge, he plays his best footy, and we want to support him to do that but ensure he does it in the right way.”
