Essendon coach Brad Scott has praised his young side for their efforts against the GWS Giants but not their kicking for goal after they started the match with eight behinds.

First-gamer Liam McMahon kicked their first goal, and his first in AFL football, late in the second term.

“It was a really good test for us in that you look up at the scoreboard and it’s 7.1 to 0.8 and the first two of their goals were free kicks against poor old Angus Clarke, where they went back and slotted them from the boundary line,” Scott said.

“We missed some easy ones but the hardest thing in footy is to generate the shots [at goal] and we will keep working on the conversion but we got inside 50 57 times against a really good opposition.

“Lots of parts of the game were really good but we lacked the execution which we will keep working on.”

When asked about the goal-kicking, Scott had a simple answer and said his side would keep working at it.

“It’s never bad luck. We just missed,” Scott said.

His young forward line which included mid-season draftees like Archer May and McMahon due to the club’s injury issues.

“It’s hard to build connection when half your forward line was playing state league six weeks ago,” Scott said.

“With young forward lines, it’s hard to build those connections over a couple of preseasons and we are trying to do it in a few weeks but that’s the challenge we face and we’ll make no excuses.”

That’s all we have for you tonight.

Thanks so much for joining us and please check back in tomorrow for our AFL Friday live blog as Brisbane hosts the Western Bulldogs at the Gabba.

Bye for now.

Essendon coach Brad Scott has praised his young side for their efforts against the GWS Giants but not their kicking for goal after they started the match with eight behinds.

First-gamer Liam McMahon kicked their first goal, and his first in AFL football, late in the second term.

“It was a really good test for us in that you look up at the scoreboard and it’s 7.1 to 0.8 and the first two of their goals were free kicks against poor old Angus Clarke, where they went back and slotted them from the boundary line,” Scott said.

“We missed some easy ones but the hardest thing in footy is to generate the shots [at goal] and we will keep working on the conversion but we got inside 50 57 times against a really good opposition.

“Lots of parts of the game were really good but we lacked the execution which we will keep working on.”

When asked about the goal-kicking, Scott had a simple answer and said his side would keep working at it.

“It’s never bad luck. We just missed,” Scott said.

His young forward line which included mid-season draftees like Archer May and McMahon due to the club’s injury issues.

“It’s hard to build connection when half your forward line was playing state league six weeks ago,” Scott said.

“With young forward lines, it’s hard to build those connections over a couple of preseasons and we are trying to do it in a few weeks but that’s the challenge we face and we’ll make no excuses.”

Jake Stringer had a few laughs, created a new wallpaper for his phone but couldn’t believe the injury toll his former club Essendon are facing at present.

Stringer kicked three goals and took a towering mark over good friend Jayden Laverde in the Giants’ win over Essendon tonight with the Dons missing a host of key players due to injury.

“I said to Zach Merrett afterwards that I’ve never seen anything like it, like they are going through,” Stringer told Fox Footy.

“They are just depleted with injuries. To his credit, he is still doing his thing week in, week out and setting a great example for the young kids. With him at the helm, they will be well set in the years to come.

“There wasn’t much chat. There wasn’t many of them [former teammates] running around, there were a lot of young kids, I didn’t know many of them out there.”

Loading

Stringer joked that he was happiest about his mark although Laverde wasn’t too happy about it.

Stringer was part of Laverde’s wedding party and the pair, reportedly, speak almost daily.

“I was just more happy about that mark on Jayden but he was a bit salty with me after it,” Stringer told Fox Footy.

“I reckon that mark will be the wallpaper on my phone for the next six weeks.”

Giants coach Adam Kingsley admits his club knows it must lift its percentage to assure themselves of the highest possible finish in the top eight.

But that doesn’t mean they will be chasing goals recklessly.

The Giants won their fifth-straight game on Thursday night defeating Essendon by 48 points.

“We have [talked to the players about percentage] but the danger is that you think we’ve got to attack, we’ve got to score and do this and this,” Kingsley told Fox Footy.

“It’s not like that. We’ve spoken about it but you bring your attention back to what is required. Your defence. Your contests and then you look to attack off that.

“That’s the method we are going to speak about.”

Kingsley revealed defender Jeff Buckley had surprised the club’s leadership by playing through a painful ankle issue in recent games and that led to them subbing him out early in the second half as a tactical change.

“He hurt his ankle in the West Coast game and it was pretty bad - he did an amazing effort to get up for the Cats and then had a five-day break heading into this game so we thought we would take the extra bit of time to spell that ankle.

“We have an eight-day break now before our Swans match, we are really looking forward to that game and he needs to be cherry ripe for that game.”

The coach also liked what he is seeing from recruit Jake Stringer as the finals approach.

“You are seeing his intent to chase and tackle, you are seeing him run into goal and pass it off at times,” Kingsley told Fox Footy.

“He’s got that mercurial feel about him, that he can kick a great goal when we need it.

“He’s a difficult matchup and he complements Toby Greene really well.”

The Giants hope to have Jesse Hogan, Jake Kelly and Sam Taylor back for their clash with the Sydney Swans next round.

Finn Callaghan spoke to Channel Seven post game.

Great. When he came in, put his head down, worked hard, got himself super fit and fit in with the group. I think you seen tonight, he’s been unselfish, passed off five or six goals this year. I’m into that, bloody hard to tackle. Great to play with. Great to have him at the club.

Not as much as we’d like. We scored a lot from stoppage tonight which is something we haven’t done too much this year. That was pleasing but hope to lift our ball movement next weekend.

Yeah, I think so. My role is on that side. The boys are giving it me a lot more than when I start my career, they’re trusting me more.

Yeah, it’s awesome, keeping a young group of players to take the team on. Cadman signing on is huge, and is a much-loved team member in the group. Think we’re building something special.

In the countdown to this Marvel Stadium mis-match, only one result was really expected: a comfortable GWS victory.

And that’s exactly what transpired. The 48-point win wasn’t necessarily a convincing win for the finals-bound Giants, but they did more than enough to secure the four points.

Much of the second, third and final quarters was quintessential junk-time footy, however.

The undermanned Essendon outfit was never seriously considered a chance against the talent-laden Giants.

Poor kicking at goal - at one point GWS 8.1 (49) led the Bombers 0.8 (8) - meant any outlandish Bomber hopes of victory were wiped out early.

Considering that, the most disturbing number for the red and black tonight was the final crowd figure - 20,347 fans in the house.

An eye-catching turn-out with a couple of days in the school holiday period to come. Importantly, on the field, the Bombers never dropped their heads.

Not only did they fight out the match they effectively went goal for goal after half-time.

Furthermore, they made sure there wasn’t a repeat of last week against Richmond when the Dons booted only one goal after quarter-time.

Essendon debutant Liam McMahon had his glorious moment(s) in the sun when he booted consecutive goals, either side of half-time.

Even in defeat, there’s always a moment to savour.From a Giants perspective, they were effectively on a hiding to nothing.

The top four aspirants were expected to triumph by more than ten goals. Nothing short of a big win would have met expectations.

Their biggest negative came when ruckman Kieren Briggs laid a heavy tackle on Bomber Sam Durham.

Briggs is bound to come under AFL match review officer scrutiny at a critical stage in the club’s season.

Tom Green and Finn Callaghan were stand-outs for the orange army, picking up 30 and 33 touches respectively.

The Giants have handled business against an injury-hit Bombers at Marvel Stadium claiming a 43-point win.

Tom Green was clearly best on ground while the visitors had a host of winners across the ground.

First game forward Liam McMahon kicked two goals for the Dons while the Giants face a nervous wait on ruckman Kieren Briggs who laid an awkward tackle on Sam Durham in the third term.