{"id":2323,"date":"2026-04-06T12:57:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T07:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/essendon-bombers-on-cusp-of-record-losing-streak-at-gather-round\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T12:57:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T07:27:06","slug":"essendon-bombers-on-cusp-of-record-losing-streak-at-gather-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/essendon-bombers-on-cusp-of-record-losing-streak-at-gather-round\/","title":{"rendered":"Essendon Bombers on cusp of record losing streak at Gather Round"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live-production.wcms.abc-cdn.net.au\/b14e0f3f7aa69b832a04b2fd54679f47?impolicy=wcms_crop_resize&amp;cropH=3333&amp;cropW=1875&amp;xPos=1563&amp;yPos=0&amp;width=862&amp;height=1533\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Essendon cannot do anything but stay galvanised as they stare down the demoralising prospect of notching a club-record 18th consecutive defeat, coach Brad Scott has said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The Bombers suffered their 17th loss in a row in <a class=\"Link_link__kR0xA Link_link__5eL5m ScreenReaderOnly_srLinkHint__OysWz Link_showVisited__C1Fea Link_showFocus__ALyv2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2026-04-05\/afl-easter-sunday-live-blog\/106530544\" data-component=\"Link\" data-uri=\"coremedia:\/\/article\/106530544\">Sunday night&#8217;s 34-point trouncing by the Western Bulldogs<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Essendon, who next face Melbourne at Adelaide Oval on Saturday, previously experienced such a run of misfortune in 2016 when players were suspended because of the supplements saga.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ContentAlignment_marginBottom__4H_6E ContentAlignment_overflowAuto__c1_IL ContentAlignment_floatRight__nfR_t RelatedCard_relatedCard__4Im5s interactive_focusContext__yRhc_ interactive_defaults__AKxUU interactive_hoverContext__LDUDX interactive_defaults__AKxUU\" data-component=\"RelatedCard\" data-uri=\"coremedia:\/\/article\/106522352\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2026-03-31\/essendon-carlton-25-years-afl-purgatory-10-key-moments\/106463792\" data-component=\"FullBleedLink\" class=\"RelatedCard_link__rsgR9 FullBleedLink_root__lTw_U interactive_focusContext__yRhc_ interactive_defaults__AKxUU FullBleedLink_showVisited__g3Xvz\"><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP RelatedCard_heading__S_nm2 Typography_sizeMobile18__eJCIB Typography_lineHeightMobile24__crkfh Typography_bold__FqafP Typography_serif__qU2V5 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">The 10 moments leading Essendon and Carlton into 25 years of AFL purgatory<\/h3>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP RelatedCard_synopsis__cFwMW Typography_sizeMobile14__u7TGe Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">Essendon and Carlton were once mainstays when it came to the business end of the AFL season. Over the last quarter century, both clubs have fallen on hard times. Here&#8217;s why.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The current streak includes last season&#8217;s 13-game losing run when they were cruelled by injuries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;It&#8217;s just a fact that can&#8217;t be argued. There&#8217;s no point,&#8221; Scott said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;No-one puts the number up with an asterisk next to it and says, &#8216;For 90 per cent of those games, you could hardly field a team&#8217;. No-one cares about that. And I don&#8217;t care either.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;It&#8217;s just one of those facts that you have to deal with, and it potentially can get demoralising, but that&#8217;s what we&#8217;re fighting against, and that&#8217;s the challenge that we&#8217;re all faced with.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;I&#8217;m faced with it as coach, our leaders are faced with it and people ask a lot of the time, &#8216;What do you want from your leaders?&#8217; Well, they need to keep the group galvanised, and they need to perform on-field.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Scott was confident the winless stretch was not taking its toll.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;On the surface you&#8217;d be concerned about it, but I don&#8217;t see it with the group,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;I have a lot of belief in the character of the group and the individual players that we&#8217;ve recruited, and they&#8217;re showing that fight without the reward at the moment, but I&#8217;m very optimistic that they&#8217;re made of the right stuff.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The Essendon boss refused to write off the season despite a 0-4 start.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ContentAlignment_marginBottom__4H_6E ContentAlignment_overflowAuto__c1_IL ContentAlignment_floatRight__nfR_t RelatedCard_relatedCard__4Im5s interactive_focusContext__yRhc_ interactive_defaults__AKxUU interactive_hoverContext__LDUDX interactive_defaults__AKxUU\" data-component=\"RelatedCard\" data-uri=\"coremedia:\/\/externallink\/101115870\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/radio\/programs\/abc-sport-daily\" data-component=\"FullBleedLink\" class=\"RelatedCard_link__rsgR9 FullBleedLink_root__lTw_U interactive_focusContext__yRhc_ interactive_defaults__AKxUU FullBleedLink_showVisited__g3Xvz\"><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP RelatedCard_heading__S_nm2 Typography_sizeMobile18__eJCIB Typography_lineHeightMobile24__crkfh Typography_bold__FqafP Typography_serif__qU2V5 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">ABC Sport Daily podcast<\/h3>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP RelatedCard_synopsis__cFwMW Typography_sizeMobile14__u7TGe Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">ABC Sport Daily is your daily sports conversation. We dive into the biggest story of the day and get you up to speed with everything else that&#8217;s making headlines.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;You can go through history and lots of sides have started like this, even worse, 0-5, 0-6 and played finals \u2026 we&#8217;re not anywhere near starting to look at finals as out of reach or anything like that,&#8221; Scott said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;But we&#8217;re not focused on those things anyway. We&#8217;re focused on consistent improvement of our players.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Jordan Ridley should return against Melbourne, and the Bombers had more good news on Monday with confirmation defender Zach Reid had avoided a fresh hamstring strain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Reid, who has had a torrid run with injuries, sat out the final quarter on Sunday with hamstring awareness, with Scott not taking any risks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;He wanted to start the last quarter, but \u2026 he was aware of his hamstring,&#8221; Scott said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;I took it out of his hands. Just given his history, I wasn&#8217;t prepared to take the risk.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\"><strong>AAP<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2026-04-06\/essendon-bombers-on-cusp-of-record-losing-streak-at-gather-round\/106535556\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Essendon cannot do anything but stay galvanised as they stare down the demoralising prospect of notching a club-record 18th consecutive defeat, coach Brad Scott has said. The Bombers suffered their 17th loss in a row in Sunday night&#8217;s 34-point trouncing by the Western Bulldogs. Essendon, who next face Melbourne at Adelaide Oval on Saturday, previously [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2324,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2323","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-blog"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}