The West Australian's Craig O'Donoghue

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**Mark Duffield** (1:00)
Welcome back to the SENWA studio out here at Optus Stadium. On this Monday morning in Perth, we're going to have Craig O'Donoghue from The West Australian on the line in a minute. But first, we've got a caller on the Barranda Day Open Line on 13-12-55.
Jake in Claremont wants to talk about Essendon. Jake, welcome.

**Craig O'Donoghue** (1:20)
Morning, Duff. I hope you're going well.
No life's been tough lately, but I hope you're doing all right. Just wondering with Essendon, do you think I need to follow the Freeman or Longmure and St. Kilda Ross line models of rebuilding, going for a defense first model and fundamentals before building an attacking brand?

**Mark Duffield** (1:42)
I reckon that one of the things the Bombers needs to do is develop a consistent brand of team defense.
And if you look at what's really let them down in recent years and has made them a bit of a sort of a, not a laughing stock, but has made them a club that hasn't been highly respected by other clubs. It's that lack of team defense. And if you look at what won them the game against GWS yesterday, I mean, I know that GWS kicked poorly and probably had enough opportunities to win it. But Essendon's pressure and its ability to apply pressure and turn the ball over through tackles, I thought Hussain Al Achkar's tackle on the 1 v 2 in the forward pocket, I thought Dyson Sharpe's tackle bringing down Lockie Ash in the middle of the ground. There was three or four just massive incidents where young players in particular stepped up and provided great team defense or individual efforts that were defensive and of a defensive nature. If you look at where Essendon has fallen short, I reckon that's where it is. Rather than be the all-out defensive model that Ross Lyon had or a model that still leaned a little bit defensively like Justin Longmuir had in his early years, I think just developing that and then seeing where that leads you will take them a fair way forward. Jake?

**Craig O'Donoghue** (3:03)
Yeah, cool. Thank you.

**Mark Duffield** (3:05)
Jake and Claremont, thanks so much for your call. Craig O'Donoghue from The West Australian joined us on the line and I reckon Craig will be happy to talk about Essendon. Codd, welcome.

**Craig O'Donoghue** (3:17)
Well, I mean, Jake's got to realise that we just beat GWS, who beat Freemantle the other week. So Freemantle were the best team in the comp and GWS beat them and we beat GWS, which makes us the quasi best team in the comp again. So we can win the flag this year. It's all good.

**Mark Duffield** (3:31)
Yes, there's nothing like a bit of delusion amongst an Essendon supporter. I did like the Dean Solomon comment at the post-match where he said, they like to see us on the bottom. And I felt like saying, mate, you haven't won a final for 20 years. I mean, jeepers. I mean, you start being relevant before, before you worry about what other teams think of you.
I think that, but anyway, it was great. It was fantastic to see, I reckon, the fans in the stand, both young and old and the absolute unbridled joy on their faces.

**Craig O'Donoghue** (4:03)
Yeah, that was awesome. I'm hearing the song again. This is what it's like being an Essendon supporter. Yesterday, when Kyle Lankford took the mark with about a minute to go to have the set shot goal to be able to seal the game, my concern was, if he misses, then the Giants are going to go to length of the field and kick the goal after the siren and win the game. I've seen that happen over and over again in recent years. So, there isn't a lot of negativity around the bombers at the moment. It's hard to watch. But yeah, yesterday, just seeing the way they attacked the footy and the young guys, how they came through, there's hope there, there's a spark, there's something. And that's all you want. And the West Coast fans have been through that in recent years and know how hard it's been. And Freo went through it in the late teens before Justin Lummi arrived and on the upward trajectory. So, yeah, yesterday was just what Essendon fans needed to go, ah, I can see a future.