How young Essendon star Nate Caddy mirrored Bombers’ turnaround to defeat Port Adelaide

Nate Caddy was so angry about his performance last week that Brad Scott thought he was going to punch him – but what a difference five days and some honest conversations make.

Five days is a long time in football, just ask Essendon and Nate Caddy.

The young full-forward is the perfect illustration of the tale of two teams: the Bombers of last Saturday against the Crows and the Bombers of Thursday night against Port Adelaide.

Subbed off at three-quarter-time against the Crows, Caddy was filthy on the world.

Fast forward five days and the 19-year-old kicked the go-ahead goal in the last-quarter to get his team off the canvas and have the entire club breathing a collective sigh of relief.

Caddy was so pissed about his performance last week that his coach Brad Scott thought he was going to punch him when he was handed the subs vest.

“To be honest I messaged him about it,” Caddy said.

Nate Caddy competes with Aliir Aliir. Picture: Getty Images

“I said I wasn’t mad at you at all, I was disappointed in myself as I had a really bad game. I was very angry and I didn’t know how to deal with it. I was really mad at myself.

“Five days is a long time in footy but it’s also a long time when you’re very down on yourself and you are in your thoughts about stuff.

“I tried to use that as a bit of fuel, I came into the game trying to pressure as much as I could and work (Alir) Alir over because I felt that I had a bit of an edge on him aerobically.

“I think my efforts to run around during the game allowed me to free up in the last quarter.”

The young Bombers combine in the final term

Caddy, who finished with 13 possessions and two goals, said a lot of “honest conversations” in recent days had been the catalyst for the Bombers turnaround to get their first win of the year.

“Having some really honest conversations, I had a few and others did too,” he said.

“In this game when your backs are against the wall, you kind of have to respond and all the boys did that.

“I think it was just re-stating what we want as a footy team, getting back to how we want our identity to be, pressure and everything like that and then also just working through.

“The team meeting as soon as we lost (last Saturday), we got a bit of a baking and the message was we’re not going to get anything out of that game, let’s just move on, work on what we could have done better obviously but let's just forget about that.

“We know how good we can be, we’re still young and everything but I feel like we can be pretty good.”

In a game which should be quickly forgotten by both sides given the amount of errors littered throughout, Caddy, in just his 13th game, and the Bombers other new excitement machine, Isaac Kako, combined for the crucial last quarter goal.

“We talked a good game saying we’d connect heaps but we hadn’t really done much yet,” Caddy said.

“So we had to kind of respond this week, we had a few chains where we were both involved and obviously that last one he kicked it to me.”

The Bombers kicked the last four goals of the game after inaccuracy threatened to keep them in the media’s gun for another week.

Saad El-Hawli celebrates on the final siren. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos

Isaac Kako, left, and Nate Caddy celebrate. Picture: Getty Images

CHALK AND CHEESE

Pressure and effort — two words which were missing against the Crows — were behind the turnaround which was illustrated starkly on the stats sheet.

Against Port the Bombers were +17 disposals, +7 kicks, +10 handballs, +15 inside 50s, +29 contested possessions and just -1 uncontested possessions.

In the 10-goal flogging last Saturday, they were -41 disposals, -75 kicks, +35 handballs, -15 inside 50s, -1 contested possessions and -41 uncontested possessions.

What those stats say is Essendon essentially went from witches hats to a team who hunted the ball as a collective although the efficiency and skill level is another whole conversation but Thursday night was all about just finding a way.

Once again captain Zach Merrett led from the front and he continues to shorten by the week for the Brownlow Medal while the return of Jordan Ridley to defence was timely given the issues their $1 million man continues to have.

Poor old Ben McKay received the bronx cheers all night from his own supporters. A dropped chest mark after he misjudged a high ball late in the second quarter nearly had the fans jumping the fence.

His troubles are a serious concern but this wasn’t the night to dwell on that and he can thank his debutant teammate Saad El-Hawli for ensuring Bombers fans had something to positively cheer about.

The mid-season rookie’s story had been celebrated in the lead-up and he provided the spark this game desperately needed in the final quarter when he was released from the subs vest.

Who would have thought some leg speed, dare and skill would be the recipe for success?

Maybe, this could catch on.