Young Bombers to come of finals age
ESSENDON coach John Worsfold says his side has to “grow up” sometime as they prepare to tackle a Sydney team brimming with finals experience in today’s cut-throat clash at the SCG.
While Sydney only has three players who have not played in winning finals, the Bombers are in the opposite position with only three players who have played in winning finals – Jobe Watson, Brendon Goddard and James Kelly.
Nine Bombers have never taken to the field in a final, with the club’s line-up boasting a total of just 60 games of finals experience as opposed to Sydney’s 224.
However, Worsfold said his team were as ready as they could be for the clash and held a strong belief they could cause a major boilover against the Swans.
“At some point we’ve got to grow up and they all said they want to play finals (so it’s a) great opportunity,” Worsfold said.
“Where it’s going to be won for us is through our energy, our effort and playing the style of footy we’ve been working on all year.
“We’ve done a lot of work this year to get to know what we’re all about and we get the opportunity to bring it all again.”
The Bombers will welcome back Michael Hurley (calf) and Orazio Fantasia (hamstring) for today’s clash but will be without forward Cale Hooker who again failed to train yesterday but could be back next week if the Bombers progress to a semi-final.
“We are hopeful that he’ll be right next week but it’s not as easy as saying, ‘ You got close this week and you’ll defi- nitely be right next week’,” Worsfold said.
“He’s got to be pain-free in any running he’s doing and he’s not quite at that point yet.”
Eight bus loads of Essendon supporters hit the road to Sydney last night full of hope and Worsfold vowed his side would not to let them down today.
“There’s a lot of them heading up to Sydney for the game which is going to be brilliant and they want to see the boys do really well,” he said.
“I can tell you they won’t be there after the game saying, ‘Oh well, it was a good year’. We’re up there to challenge ourselves to win this game.”