Essendon's 2024 season is hanging by a thread and coach Brad Scott believes it's due to the club's inability to stand up in big moments.
From Rounds 9 to 17, the Bombers occupied a spot in the top four and were set to put their wretched history of finals absences and victories to bed.
However, with a string of three losses and four from their past five, Scott's men sit outside the eight for the first time since Round 5 and an unlikely finals berth awaits once again.
Their most recent loss to St Kilda (53 points) is arguably the most disappointing, given their irrelevancy in the current campaign.
Speaking on Thursday, Scott didn't mince his words, saying the club "can't escape the reality" of failing big moments that will ultimately doom the side until it is resolved.
"The bit that's different for us is that we can't escape the reality, and we're not trying to, is that when the pressure test has come this year, and usually at the pointy end of the season, to compete and qualify, we fail the test," Scott said.
"And when we play games that we should win, could win, need to win, we've failed that weight of expectation. And most of that expectation is internal.
"The game on the weekend looked to me like we had players, probably as a club even, we went in with the attitude of โI hope we win this', or even worse, โI hope we don't lose this'."
However, Scott said he has urged his players not to shy away from those big occasions, starting with Fremantle at the MCG on Sunday.
"How do you improve that? How do you fix that?" he said.
"You keep putting yourself in pressure situations. We can just develop our game and sit in the bottom half of the ladder and say 'We're building a list, we're building a style' or we can try and perform and compete against the best.
"And until we are a team that can handle those situations (pressure moments), it becomes an irrelevance (whether we make finals or not)."
With one confirmed change from the discouraging loss against the Saints being intercept defender Jordan Ridley (hip), Scott remained coy if he'll be wielding the axe at the selection table.
"Don't know yet," Scott admitted.
"I think there's a balance... we've made changes over the last couple of weeks and those changes are based on a range of factors but mostly it's based on picking a team that we think will give us the best chance to win.
"There's a few moving parts at the moment... I want to have a look at a few key things (during training)."
Elijah Tsatas is one to watch after sterling form in the VFL, putting his name up for consideration on a weekly basis.
Scott is "optimistic" about Tsatas' chances going forward but admits the midfield is still a juggling act, with players like Sam Durham and Jye Caldwell taking "leaps over other guys" this year.
