'Off the pace': The 'negative' side of Bomber debutant story and the deeper truth it exposes according to Matthew Lloyd
Essendon great Matthew Lloyd wants to see his old side investigate the spate of injuries they have had to deal with this season.
The Bombers currently have 13 players on their injury list and have been forced to debut mid-season draft pair Archer May and Lachlan Blakiston only a fortnight after listing them.
They have been stung by long term injuries, particularly to key position players.
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Nick Bryan, Sam Draper, Tom Edwards and Lewis Hayes are out for the season, Nik Cox is in indefinite concussion protocols, Harrison Jones and Ben McKay are out long-term, while Jordan Ridley, Kyle Langford and Zach Reid continue to suffer reoccurring soft tissue/leg issues.
Harrison Jones of the Bombers leaves the field on a stretcher. Getty
Lloyd believes the club simply must dive deep into the cause, given the damage it has done to their season.
"My thinking is the positive is that Essendon has had 10 debutants for this season, but that's the only positive you can take out of it in that sense," Lloyd told 3AW.
"The negative is the reason they're having 10 debutants and that's because of the injury rate at the club. It's something they need to look at, as to why they're getting so many.
"Two guys they drafted two weeks ago and they're straight into the AFL senior team.
"It's a great story, but they'll be a fair way off the pace, I would expect because they've been playing state football and they weren't in the 800 best players before that.
"It's nothing against them, but (Essendon) has to look at all the soft tissue injuries, why does it keeps happening to Jordan Ridley, why does Kyle Langford keep getting injured.
"ACLs you can't really help, but they've had three of them. I'm sure they would be investigating why they are having so many injuries at the Bombers."
The Bombers host Geelong at the MCG on Saturday afternoon and will be hoping to rebound from last week's narrow loss to Carlton.
