‘Hard to say no’: Bombers vow to ‘go to work’ on injury trend as more setbacks confirmed

Essendon coach Brad Scott says his club will “go to work” on the array of recent soft tissue injuries following setbacks for two of its young stars.

A stunning Connor Rozee masterclass was the centrepiece of a prolific performance by Port Adelaide, which rose to the occasion of Gather Round Friday night footy with a 69-point thumping of the Bombers.

The Bombers lost young gun midfielder Archie Perkins (hamstring) in the second half, with Scott indicating post-match he was unlikely to play next week.

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Scott also confirmed best and fairest Jordan Ridley had suffered a “recurrence of his quad” injury he picked in the Bombers’ pre-season loss to Geelong, adding he would be sidelined for “at least as long as we suspected the first time around”.

Perkins joins Ridley, Matt Guelfi (calf) and Zach Reid (hamstring) on the sidelines, while midfielder Darcy Parish is only two games back from a hamstring complaint.

Asked directly if the Bombers had an issue with soft tissue injuries, Scott told reporters: “It’s hard to sit here and say ‘no’.

“We just have to go and be really diligent in assessing what’s happening there. We, like all AFL clubs, 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.”

As impressive as Hinkley’s men were, Scott’s charges disappointed in equal measure on Friday night.

Zach Merrett and Nic Martin gathered plenty of possessions but were unable to have much say as the Bombers fell to their eighth loss in a row against their bogey side.

Scott said he was pleased with the Bombers’ pressure, but lamented the fact his side won hitouts (+11) yet lost centre clearances (-13).

“I didn’t think it was effort. I think we got soundly beaten in centre bounce and lost momentum,” he said.

“In the end it’s a good wake-up call for our guys … We’re only four games in but it’s been a strength for us,” Scott said post-game.

“Sometimes it’s a bit of a perfect storm: Whatever we changed made it worse. We were beaten on the inside and we held outside … and it flipped – we got beaten inside and outside. That’s a real credit to (Port Adelaide)

“It certainly wasn’t through a lack of change of match-ups – we threw them around and whatever we threw at them they were good enough to beat them. That’s a disappointing part of the game but that’s the difference right at the moment between the two sides. We showed for a quarter we can match them in that space, but the game goes for four quarters, not one.”