ESSENDON coach Brad Scott has questioned the desire of his players to defend after another thumping defeat, conceding his side is "demoralised" just two games into the season.

Scott says his side has work to do in all areas of the game after another lacklustre loss, this time a 20.13 (133) to 10.10 (70) defeat to Port Adelaide on Sunday afternoon.

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He lamented his side's inability to hold onto the ball and said all his players, not just the back six, needed to be more accountable in defence.

When asked if he felt some players showed a lack of desire to defend, Scott replied: "I think it's part of it, yeah. Because it would be ridiculous of me to say that's not the case. We're not hard-nosed enough in defence ... that's not just the defenders, that's all over the ground.

"I'm a coach who very rarely questions a lack of effort and a lack of fight. You know these guys well enough that they'll always give that. But there's no doubt we're demoralised. And that can appear to look like a lack of effort and a lack of fight."

Later, Scott added: "We want to build a club and a culture that is based on team first. And we can't have selfishness and players who think about themselves, and we've done a lot of work to make sure we don't have that.

"But when things get hard and we get demoralised, human nature is to think about yourself and 'what does this mean for me?' We've got so much work to do in this space."

The Bombers coach conceded his side was smashed all over the ground, with the marks inside 50 count (25-7) a particularly damning inditement on his players.

"It's going to be really hard to defend for long periods of the game when you only take seven marks inside 50," he said.

"Credit to the opposition, they pressured us better than we pressured them. Mind you, our pressure was non-existent.

"And we butchered the ball when we had it. We've got an enormous amount of work to do on our defence full stop, but when you're turning the ball over in horrible parts of the ground, basic fundamental errors and giving the ball back - no one is set up to defend that."

Scott conceded the message of patience was difficult to sell to Essendon's long-suffering supporters, but he is adamant that the club is on the right track and that the Bombers youngsters will lead them to a brighter future.

"I'm never going to tell Essendon fans to be patient, because I reckon 25 years is long enough to hear the same message," he said.

"But if I'm an Essendon fan, I'm watching the character of these players - particularly the younger players - who will make them proud one day. As frustrating as it is at the moment, good clubs stick together.

"No one wants to hear all the preaching about stability and all that sort of stuff right now. But the reality is, you've only got two options: you can give up or you can fight.

"It's difficult at the moment, because it doesn't appear to look like that (there is fight).

"But I believe in these guys and I think they're made of the right stuff."