Bombers to use Stringer in the middle

Essendon will continue to use Jake Stringer in bursts through the midfield after he played one of his best games for his new club.

Essendon’s Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti, at a team training session yesterday.

Essendon will persist with using Jake Stringer in bursts through the midfield after the former All Australian played one of his best games for his new club last weekend.

The former Western Bulldogs premiership forward had failed to fire over a disappointing month for the Bombers, although he was far from the only Essendon player to struggle.

Tested through the midfield for differing lengths of time this year, Stringer performed well against a Geelong side boasting champions Patrick Dangerfield, Gary Ablett and Joel Selwood.

The 24-year-old booted a goal while gathering a season-high 19 disposals but also laid seven tackles in a clear increase in his defensive desperation.

The recruit’s best games this year have come in Essendon’s three wins, and coach John Worsfold was pleased with last weekend’s effort as he continues to learn about Stringer.

“He has started in centre bounces in games this year. He has had a mix of 30 minutes in the midfield for a game to 50 minutes,” he said.

“I don’t know what the exact split was (against Geelong), but … it is all part of Jake’s growth with us and our growth to understand how we utilise his strengths.”

The victory over Geelong was clearly Essendon’s best defensive effort this season. They held the Cats to 50 points, 34 points below their next best effort, against Port Adelaide in round 4.

If the Bombers can defeat the Giants in Sydney on Saturday night, a season that seemed over after a month of ordinary performances will suddenly boast some hope.

The victory over the Cats followed a torrid week which included the redundancy of strategy coach Mark Neeld. But Essendon captain Dyson Heppell, who is the Bombers’ best-performed player on a statistical metric this year from David Zaharakis and Devon Smith, yesterday said the atmosphere at the club’s Tullamarine base remained strong.

“If you had of walked into the footy club in the last five weeks, you wouldn’t have known the situation we were in because the vibe was fantastic,” he told SEN.

“We are continuing to work and improve in our game, but it just wasn’t coming out on the weekend. I had full confidence every week putting the work in and knowing it would turn around eventually and hoping we can now keep it consistent from here on in.”

While Stringer has been inconsistent, Smith has been a strong performer almost every week for Essendon through the midfield.

Notably, he is averaging at least three tackles per match more at the Bombers than he did through the 109 games he played for the Giants.

He is also gathering more of the ball than ever before and looms as a thorn in the side of a Giants side desperate for a win after three straight losses.

Worsfold believes the “wheel is turning” in regards to the Bombers producing more consistent results but hopes to see a second strong performance in succession on Saturday.

The Bombers may well be strengthened by the return of All Australian Michael Hurley and Rising Star Andrew McGrath.