Essendon coach Brad Scott has made no apologies for staying loyal to Dyson Heppell regardless of doubts the previous Bombers skipper deserved choice for Sunday’s conflict in opposition to GWS at Marvel Stadium.
Heppell has made a gradual begin to the season for a Bombers facet which was crushed final Saturday by 18 factors by St Kilda.
It was Essendon’s first lack of a marketing campaign which began with back-to-back wins.
Nonetheless, the defeat hasn’t led to Scott axing the 30-year-old Heppell.
“He’ll be within the staff this week and I perceive there might be a give attention to a whole lot of the extra senior gamers in a whole lot of groups throughout the AFL, however what Dyson Heppell has finished for this membership over a 10-year-plus interval has been completely essential,” Scott mentioned on Friday.
“Proper the place we’re at by way of our evolution as a staff, Dyson’s a extremely vital participant for what we’re doing.
“The worth that Dyson brings is immeasurable. His management, his sense of calm when issues aren’t notably going nicely … and with a younger and inexperienced group, it’s actually vital to have seniority round them.
“The positives that Dyson brings are actually onerous to see publicly. You actually don’t see them on the stats sheet.
“He’s a extremely proud competitor and he’s a extremely vital individual and participant for us.
“We choose the staff, not anybody else, so the perfect 22 is what we expect.”
That 22 may also embrace ahead Jake Stringer, who struggled to make an influence in opposition to the Saints in his return from a hamstring harm.
“We actually struggled to carry the ball to floor inside our forward-50 at first of the sport and Jake performed that position for us and did it very well,” Scott mentioned.
“He performed the position that we’re asking him to. We’re not asking him to do any extra or any much less than simply his position for the staff.”
Scott mentioned the Bombers have been “nonetheless a piece in progress”.
“There have been some positives to start out the yr, and a few issues that we have to proceed to work on and evolve,” he mentioned,
Scott anticipated the Giants to supply the Bombers a troublesome problem on Sunday.
“They’re a top quality facet. They clearly didn’t have the yr they needed final yr, however they’ve nonetheless received a whole lot of functionality,” he mentioned.
“They’re in all probability adjusting to a special teaching system, as are we. They’re actually a harmful facet.”
