'Best of luck': Essendon coach Brad Scott warns rule changes will lead to more blowouts this season

Essendon coach Brad Scott has warned the AFL that their rule changes might cause more blowouts this season.

The Dons were smashed by Hawthorn on Friday night by 62 points, crushed in particular over the second and third quarters.

After the first seven games of the season, three have been decided by more than 50 points.

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The AFL's rule changes were all designed around adding speed to the game. Tightening the stand rule, changing centre bounce ruck contests, last touch out of bounds and an additional rotation on the bench.

And the Hawthorn avalanche was clear on Friday night, kicking 13 goals from 23 shots at goal in the middle two quarters.

Speaking after the loss, Scott believes those heavy run-ons will become more common this season, particularly when there's already a gulf between the two teams.

"It's going to be very, very hard to contain very good sides. There's no doubt about that," he told reporters.

"Is that good for the game? Probably.

"The AFL talk about margin compression - well, best of luck with that when the best play teams that are that are young and inexperienced, and perhaps struggling for one reason or another.

"But we've got an opportunity to exploit those rules as well."

Scott admitted he was disappointed by his team's effort, saying they were beaten by exactly what they were preparing for.

"I'm reluctant to say that we prepared really well, because the outcome clearly wasn't what we were after," Scott said.

"We understand how much work we've got to do to bridge the gap between us and the top four teams; of which Hawthorn were one. But, we really got beaten by what we were concerned about coming into the game.

"Our inability to stop them transitioning out of our front half was just nowhere near the level.

"And it's not as if that wasn't a key focus coming into the game

"I don't think anyone's under any illusions we've got a big gap to bridge, but we got a good lesson tonight."

After spending 2025 stuck in the bottom half of the ladder, Scott doesn't want to accept another year of development without results.

"There are reasons to be optimistic, but we're not sticking our head in the sand and just saying 'we're just going to wait for our young players to mature'," Scott said.

"Because I always maintain that we've got capability, even last year with all our injuries. We've just got to execute better than we are at the moment, pretty quickly.

"Frustrating night tonight, but the positives are it looks like our group is is resilient.

"They've had a very good preparation in terms of the pre-season, but there's a gulf between where we are right now and where the best teams are."