Xavier Duursma has admitted the Bombers are still “trying to figure out” the reasons for their week-to-week inconsistency, as the club strengthens its finals candidacy amid a winning start to the year.
The first-year Essendon wingman has also spoken of “loving” his Hangar experience thus far, especially crediting a pair of coaches in easing his transition from Port Adelaide in the off-season.
The Bombers trumped the Western Bulldogs last Friday night to improve to 3-2 on the season, rebounding from a listless Gather Round outing against Duursma’s former side.
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While its Round 5 win — underpinned by a stirring second-half display — has Essendon equal on wins with seventh-placed Fremantle, familiar issues continue to rear their heads despite the Dons’ heady stoppage game.
Entering last Friday’s contest, Essendon’s clearance profile rated third best in the AFL, and its prowess was evident against the Bulldogs as the Bombers registered six more centre clearances and were able to curtail superstars Marcus Bontempelli and Tom Liberatore throughout the evening.
“We got into a bit of a stoppage battle; I think we won that pretty well, and then our defence held up really well in the second half,” Duursma told foxfooty.com.au post-game on Friday.
However, while their work at the coalface has undoubtedly been one of their biggest drivers, the Bombers’ offensive and defensive transition remain weak links.
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Going into Round 5, the Bombers were 15th in the competition for preventing opposition defensive 50 to inside 50 transitions.
They also sat a lowly 16th for opposition scores per inside 50.
Those figures weren’t helped by their shellacking at the hands of the Power, with Duursma citing poor transition defence as one of the mysterious reasons for the side’s inconsistent performance in 2024.
“It’s a bit of a challenge that we’re trying to figure out ourselves,” Duursma told foxfooty.com.au of Essendon’s inconsistency.
“I’m not sure if I quite have the answer to it. I don’t know entirely myself.
“We need to keep addressing what we’re doing well, and then we need to really address the things we can keep getting better at; and things like that are our transition defence.
“That’s the thing I think will help us be more consistent.”
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While Duursma highlighted defensive accountability, the team’s transition offence has been similarly impotent across its first five games.
Scores from stoppage have proved fruitful thus far in ‘24, but it’s been the failure to consistently generate offence in transition that has held back Essendon’s attack.
The Bombers entered their bout with the Bulldogs ranked second-worst in transitioning the ball from defensive 50 to forward 50.
Further, heading into their Round 6 meeting with the Crows, the Dons are 14th in score launches – ahead of just Richmond, Hawthorn, Adelaide and North Melbourne.
For reference, Champion Data defines score launches as ‘scoring chains launched by an intercept possession, free kick, hitout-to-advantage or clearance’.
Two-way play between the arcs remains a sore point for Brad Scott’s brigade, but they’re finding ways to win games – mainly through accurate goalkicking; one of the easiest measures of footy performance.
“The good thing is that we’ve been able to bounce back from a couple of losses,” Duursma added.
“The challenge for us, now, is to go and back it up in Adelaide this week.”
The 23-year-old Gippsland product starred against the Dogs, recording 20 disposals at 85 per cent efficiency to go along with 13 marks and two goals.
“It’s nice to get rewarded for some hard work,” Duursma said post-game.
“I think I’ve been putting in some hard work for a while. I’ve been a bit unlucky with my injuries and stuff in the last few years and a few other things like that.”
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While it hasn’t always been smooth sailing during his AFL tenure, Duursma has thoroughly enjoyed the early portion of his time at Essendon.
“The boys at the club have been fantastic in embracing me and bringing out my strengths, which is something ‘Scotty’ and ‘Gia’ (assistant coach Daniel Giansiracusa) have been really big on,” he said.
“Bringing my weapons; my running, my hands, getting up and back down the ground and (applying) some good pressure.
“The club, (Scott), the boys and (Giansiracusa) have been fantastic at embracing me.
“It’s a really strengths-based approach to what I can bring to the team. I’m a good runner, I’ve got good hands and I’m able to get up and down the ground and put some pressure on.
“That’s what they want me to do, and they let me go out there and do that.”
The Bombers will try and secure their fourth win of the season when they play the Crows on Friday night at Adelaide Oval.
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