Injury latest: Essendon cop more soft tissue injuries as Darcy Parish vows club will bounce back

Essendon coach Brad Scott says the club will investigate a series of soft-tissue injuries sidelining their players as Darcy Parish vows his club will bounce back from a heavy defeat to Port Adelaide.

Essendon midfielder Darcy Parish has promised a strong bounce back from Friday night’s Gather Round thrashing at the hands of Port Adelaide as the Bombers look to investigate a spate of recent soft tissue injuries.

Parish conceded the Essendon rooms felt “pretty grim” after the 69-point loss but stressed the players were committed to making a stand in the prime-time clash with Western Bulldogs on Friday night.

“Obviously (from) the start of the year we have been progressing and starting to build something as a group … but it was a disappointing performance,” Parish said.

“I felt like the first quarter we were there then they ran away with it in the second quarter. We just played right into their hands.”

He said Port Adelaide’s man-on-man style in the second term was something that the Bombers couldn’t master.

Jason Horne-Francis of the Power fends off Darcy Parish. Picture: Michael Klein

“They did (go man on man),” he said. “It was playing to their strengths … and we couldn’t handle it.

“We were fizzed up for this game. Obviously, we didn’t show it the way we wanted to, but we want to be a part of these big games.

“We will bounce back next week. We will get the learnings (from the Power loss). We have to get to work again.”

The Bombers lost Archie Perkins to a hamstring injury on Friday night, while Jordan Ridley suffered a third quad injury since round 19 at training this week which sidelined him for several weeks.

Jordan Ridley might be out for a while longer. Picture: Getty Images

It continues a tough injury run Essendon has had this season, with Zach Reid (hamstring), Parish (hamstring) and Matt Guelfi (calf) all missing games.

Essendon coach Brad Scott explained on Friday night that the club would investigate the current spate of soft-tissue issues.

“It’s hard to sit here and say no, (there isn’t an issue),” Scott said.

“We just have to go and be really diligent in assessing what’s happening there. Like all AFL clubs we run a really thorough medical program but at the moment we’re being hurt by some soft tissues.

“In a full contact sport there are some unavoidable injuries, but you’d like to think the soft-tissue ones are the ones you can do something about so we’ll need to go to work on that.”

Parish had a near flawless preseason until he suffered his injury which cost him playing in the first two games.

Essendon coaches after the loss. Picture: Michael Klein

“I thought I was building towards something in the preseason and then you get it taken away for a month or so,” Parish said.

“So there is obviously a fair bit of rust in my game at the moment.”

He said Port Adelaide’s midfield troika of Connor Rozee, Zak Butters and Jason Horne-Francis had had the better of the engine room match-ups on Friday night.

“They have got some great young players in there,” he said. “We just couldn’t match it with them, so we have to get back to work and bounce back.”

“That’s not the way we wanted to play. We want to keep the ball in our forward 50m and not rely on our backs to beat their opponents one-on-one.

“So it’s back to the drawing board. We will get to work and we will bounce back.”

WALSH CLOSES IN ON RETURN

Carlton is confident star midfielder Sam Walsh will play his first game of 2024 against Adelaide next week after making strong progress on his back issues.

It comes as coach Michael Voss vowed the Blues are ready to make amends for last year’s Gather Round flogging at the hands of the Crows, saying there will be no excuses ahead of Saturday’s Adelaide Oval clash with Fremantle.

Voss said new father Patrick Cripps was ready to play after the birth of his daughter Koda on Thursday, saying the Blues were primed to keep their unbeaten start to 2024 intact with what looms as a big clash with the in-form Dockers.

“He (Cripps) is going … he arrived (on Friday) … I caught up with him really briefly before we flew out. He was smiling then and he is still smiling now.”

“He is really happy and the timing (of the birth) worked out well. He is ready to go and looking forward to it.”

Voss said Walsh had made good progress in his recovery across the past few weeks, and was only one good training week away from resuming.

“Sam is progressing really well … he is back into main training,” he said. “We anticipate if he gets through the main training next week, he will play.”

Sam Walsh should return next week. Picture: Michael Klein

“We have been very patient and hopefully we will see him back out there next week.”

Voss said the Blues were simply not prepared mentally for the opening game of the inaugural Gather Round last year and the Crows made them to pay the price.

Although he knows the Dockers will present a huge challenge this week, he is confident his side has learnt the lessons from last year.

“It’s a footy festival in some ways, and it came as quite a surprise to us last year,” he said.

“For whatever reason, we were not quite ready to compete the way we needed to. Adelaide to jump us and we take that lesson coming into this week.

“It is on us to make sure we turn up the right way. (We won’t) take any moment for granted. We need to become a reliable and consistent team. Our job is to be ready to win anywhere. We weren’t ready last year, we have to make sure we are ready this year.”

He said the Blues were ready for the Dockers to bring the defensive heat, which he said made for a fascinating match-up of two unbeaten sides.

“I feel like our form has been growing over the weeks. I still feel like we have got plenty to get after, so we will try and take that into the Freo game,” he said.

“The thing they’ve (Fremantle) have always been known for is that they defend really well. As a team … they’re hard to score against. So it means your game has to be in shape.”

Originally published as Injury latest: Essendon cop more soft tissue injuries as Darcy Parish vows club will bounce back