Essendon's end-of-season funk is haunting them once again and manifesting itself in an ugly way on the footy field.
Bomber fans nervously awaited Saturday's clash with St Kilda while Saints fans would have entered the arena bullish about their chances to vanquish the vulnerable Bombers.
While not a mandatory mathematical requirement, the equation was simple for Essendon heading in; win and keep your finals hopes alive.
Instead, as has become a trend in recent seasons, they didn't rock up.
Once again they have capitulated under the weight of external pressure and a season that promised to deliver a 20-year drought breaking climax will likely end without a September berth entirely.
"The end result's extremely disappointing, but more disappointing then that was a lack of effort and intent," coach Brad Scott lamented post-match, falling by 53 points to the Saints.
"It doesn't take much in this game if you drop off in that area to look second rate and we looked third rate."
It didn't matter what game-plan the Bombers brought into the match, as the side toiled over the basic non-negotiables of effort and intent, especially through the costly third quarter.
"Effort and intent are intangible somewhat. It's not as simple as going out and telling players to give more effort. It's been a hallmark of our game and it's why we've been in pretty much all bar a couple of our games," Scott said.
"We knew St Kilda were gonna try and possess the ball, that's again, bitterly disappointing we didn't take that away at all, they controlled the game."
"And when we did apply some pressure, they'd just kick the ball out of defensive 50 to a minus one contest and mark it, and we end up 16-5 contested marks."
Only an injury to a key player could make the situation worse at Windy Hill during the week, and unfortunately the club will await the diagnosis of sidelined star defender Jordan Ridley on a brutal knock to his hip.
"He got a nasty knee in his hip, but it was to the front of his hip so we had some concerns around his quad that he's had injured before," the Bomber coach detailed.
"We don't know (the diagnosis) is the bottom line but he had a real, fair bit of pain, couldn't function, so we had no choice (but) to sub him off."
"It presents like... pretty severe cork, and hopefully it's nothing more serious than that."
Unfortunately Ridley's diagnosis is worse than hoped for, with scans on Sunday revealing a strain that will sideline the Bomber star.
Scans have confirmed a hip flexor strain for Essendon defender Jordan Ridley.
Will miss against Fremantle.
Timeline to be confirmed in coming days.More on the Bombers @7NewsMelbourne tonight at 6pm
— Mitch Cleary (@cleary_mitch) July 28, 2024
Some more soul-searching awaits the Bomber playing group ahead of an even tougher Round 21 assignment against a red-hot Docker side at the MCG.
