A SPATE of "really undisciplined" acts by his players, one that may see gun midfielder Zach Merrett suspended at a critical point of the season, have left Essendon coach John Worsfold seeing red after Saturday's win over Carlton.
The Bombers got out of jail against the Blues to snatch an eight-point win after they coughed up a 28-point first-term advantage to trail by two goals midway through the fourth.
But it was three undisciplined actions, headlined by Merrett's stomach punch to Lachie Plowman in the second quarter, that ruffled Worsfold the most as the Bombers fight for a finals berth.
"They're disappointing for the team, absolutely," Worsfold said afterwards.
"If they're unnecessary, they're costing our teammates and that's just as bad as not manning up a loose player. We expect we're better than that.
"That's not as uncompromising in terms of the way we want to play.
"You just wonder why it happens, what they're thinking, but it's easy for us, enjoying the contest.
"Players are under enormous pressure, it's a real tough contest and they're all competitive and it boils over at times."
Five talking points: Essendon v Carlton
The other two incidents, involving Conor McKenna swinging and missing Matthew Wright's face after a scuffle and Joe Daniher making late contact to a marking Blaine Boekhorst, are less likely to attract the match review panel's attention.
But Merrett's tummy-punch will certainly be examined, with the midfielder clearly affected by his actions with reduced output over the rest of the game.
Worsfold said it was a "great learning opportunity" for Merrett as he came to terms with the ramifications.
WATCH: Full John Worsfold post-match press conference
"I'm expecting the MRP will look at that and grade it; you guys may have seen more and taken more note, but I don't know how they'll grade it," Worsfold said.
"Some of those gradings are a fine, if they're really high gradings, they may ride into a suspension but Zach has a good record so it's not like the [Luke] Hodge incident where he got fined but it rolled into a suspension.
"I'm sure Zach's disappointed, especially because again we sit here wondering if it's going to affect the team.
"We want to be better than that.
"We'll certainly talk through it and ask, one, why it happened, and then what happened after that, and resilience and experience is something he can learn from."
Forward Orazio Fantasia will have scans on the right hamstring he strained in the first quarter, with Worsfold forecasting "2-3 weeks" on the sidelines if proven low-grade.
However, leading sports medico Dr. Peter Larkins told 3AW at the time of the injury it looked worse than that.
Worsfold also conceded veteran Jobe Watson "struggled" to get involved in the game but "wasn't the only one".
"We had, I think, four players whose output was below what we expect from them, and some of our decision making as a team was well below what we would expect," he said.
"That certainly doesn't come down to pointing the finger at one guy."
Watson had 11 disposals and spent large chunks of the game on the bench, playing just 88 of 120 minutes.
