THERE was a mild sense of optimism from Essendon coach Brad Scott, despite the club’s record-equalling 17th consecutive loss on Sunday evening.

Having gone down to the Western Bulldogs by 34 points, it was the Bombers’ show of fight in the second half that offered a silver lining to the side that has been on its heels for the better part of two years.

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Essendon trailed by 54 points at half time, before a four-goal-to-nil third term challenged the ladder-leading Dogs.

“There are some things to be pleased about. I think the most pleasing thing is it would have been easy for our players to get a bit of dejected and flat,” Scott said.

“And the response after half-time, after we changed some things, I thought (was) led by Zach Merrett, with his pressure around the ball. The third quarter started to look like we wanted (it) to look from the start of the game.”

Merrett went into the main break with zero tackles to his name, but finished with a game-high seven, exemplifying his club’s shift in defensive tenacity throughout the game.

“It wasn’t a spray or anything (to) Zach, it was just, you know, let’s get back to what we know we can be with the whole team in general,” Scott said.

What is important for Scott now is to see that style of footy grow, after being “jumped” to start the clash with the Bulldogs.

“(Our) pressure was non-existent in the first two rounds of the year, that has looked very different in the last two weeks. Execution is still a work in progress, but at least it was better tonight,” Scott said.

Young defender Zach Reid failed to finish the game, with a hamstring niggle arising in the third quarter.

“(The degree of concern), it’s low, it’s low, but there’s no such thing as low with ‘Reidy’, really. I mean, he wanted to start the last quarter, but it’s the thing these days, he was aware of his hamstring,” Scott said with a wry smile.

“It’s hard to get a definitive answer out of the medical guys because with ‘Reidy’ there’s an extra layer of concern there. So, he wanted to start, but I took it out of his hands just given his history. I wasn’t prepared to take the risk, but we’ll get it checked and hopefully he’s right, and I’m wrong.”

Winning coach Luke Beveridge wasn’t without his own injury concerns, despite his side’s 4-0 start to the season.

Ruck Tim English went down with a right knee issue, and dynamic forward Arty Jones was felled by a hamstring following a positive start. The pair’s injuries compounded the loss of star midfielder Ed Richards before the siren to a knee.

“In the muck-around-type warm up, where the boys go out and have a bit of a kick around… (Richards) just felt something in his knee, and even in the meeting that I take, the briefing before the game, I asked him how he was and he seemed pretty optimistic that he’s going to be okay,” Beveridge explained.

“So, he went out, tried to warm up with the group, or just before the group, and it was no good. So, we don’t know the extent of it. We’ve got a case study with one of our players having something similar, where he kept playing beyond the week, but we think it’s minor whatever it is.”

The club will send the trio for scans to determine the severity of their respective injuries ahead of its Gather Round clash with Hawthorn on Saturday.

Defender Rory Lobb also came from the field late after “he just landed on some stops”, but Beveridge is unconcerned about his availability for the match.

He did, however, bemoan his side’s form despite the win, even before the injuries forced the magnets to shift.

“I don’t think we were playing overly well at that point in time anyway… Under pressure, we didn’t handle it too well at times. We fumbled, we coughed it up, we missed open field targets too many times in a game where the conditions seemed perfect,” Beveridge said.