AFL 2022: Essendon players blame poor moments for heartbreaking loss

Tight games need players to make the right decisions in big moments and Essendon players failed on Sunday.

Essendon star Andy McGrath says he and his teammates all had moments they’d “like to take back” after senior players came under fire for their late efforts in Sunday’s after-the-siren loss to Collingwood.

Bombers football boss Josh Mahoney conceded there were too many moments late in the game players “didn’t do well” after first coming from 37 points down before conceded a 20-point last quarter lead in the four-point loss.

Some last quarter efforts from senior players earned a serious bake from commentator David King who questioned the actions of the club’s leaders and why captain Dyson Heppell was on the bench late in such a tight contest.

“Close games need leadership. They had him on the field for 60 minutes in the second half and they had to give him a break at the end of the match because he was spent,” King told SEN.

“That’s poor management.”

Dyson Heppell and Zach Merrett after the loss to Collingwood (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

McGrath conceded the Bombers had to “be better” in situations like that, which included Collingwood being allowed to take the ball the length of the MCG inside the final minute after Essendon’s Harrison Jones missed a set shot for goal, which allowed Jame Elliot to mark and then kick the winning goal after the siren.

“You practice those scenarios, Collingwood played it well,” McGrath said.

“We’re all thinking of moments we would like to have back, in that fourth quarter especially. It’s a huge learning game for us.

“We won most of the key areas in the game, when you do that and lose it hurts a little bit more. we’ve got to learn from this and be better in bigger games.

“We’re all reliving moments in our own head which weren’t up to standard or we feel we let our teammates down.

“Those moments will stuck in our hearts and we will remember them, we will be in this position again, we want to be in this position again and hopefully in finals footy. “

Andy McGrath and dejected Essendon players walk from the ground (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

Mahoney said close games come down to “moments” and that the Magpies players were “owning those moments”.

“The last 10 or 15 minutes comes down to moments and there were moments when we did well and moments when we didn’t do so well,” Mahoney said.

“That’s going to be the reflection for a lot of players, thoughts about doing one or two little things different;y. There were times in that last little bit of play we could have done three or four things differently and guys missed opportunities.

“We want t make sure we win these game, we want to set ourselves sup for when we are in those sorts of situations again we learn.”

Originally published as AFL 2022: Essendon players blame poor moments for heartbreaking loss