A candid David Zaharakis says it's time Essendon stop talking and start doing.
The Bombers were embarrassed in their season-opening clash against GWS last Sunday, going down by 72 points.
Not surprisingly, the club has been under the blowtorch in the wake of the thrashing, and that will only intensify if the Dons lose to St Kilda in Round 2.
The Essendon midfielder admitted the review was exhaustive – and at times hard to watch – but knows full well that actions speak louder than words.
Speaking on SEN's Time On, Zaharakis said: "We're saying a lot, but it's about how we action it on the weekend.
"We've just got to do it by our actions.
"Even me saying what I'm saying to you now is not really going to do anything for the weekend if I don't come out and play hard, just as everyone else in the midfield does, or the whole team.
"These words will fall by the wayside if we don’t produce on the weekend."
A number of Essendon's stars have been slammed for their sub-standard performance at Giants Stadium.
Zaharakis says the equation is simple: 'if you're not doing your job, you can expect to be sent back to the VFL'.
"We're confident that last weekend was an aberration and it won't happen again," the 188-game veteran said.
"If it starts to become a pattern of behaviour we won't be playing, that's the reality of it. If you're not good enough or not showing you're good enough, you've got to go back and earn your stripes to then come back up.
"If you're not playing the way the Essendon footy club should be playing, then you're not going to be playing."
Zaharakis revealed that one of the most concerning issues to come out of Round 1 was the midfield's inability to get back and help the Bombers' defence.
"We left our backs out to dry on the weekend," the 29-year-old said.
"It doesn’t matter what system you have in place or what your game plan is; if you're letting sides walk out the front of stoppages with no pressure on them, you're just leaving your backs hanging out.
"If it's not a world record it's close to it and we don’t stand for that. I don't want to be a side that loses contested possession like that and juts looks deplorable in defence.
"This group has shown that they can do it, so let's just hope it was an event and not a pattern of behaviour that's going to come."
Essendon lost the contested possession count 157-118 on Sunday, and Zaharakis said that's simply unacceptable.
He's promised the Essendon fans that the Bombers' pressure will be manic against the Saints.
"We're just focusing this week on just playing with real instinct around the contest and just real heat on the ball," he said.
"Our mantra and what we spoke about a lot in the pre-season was our contest pressure, and our blitz on the ball is what makes this side great.
"If we don’t do that we're a sub-par team, it's as simple as that. It's the reality of this team, we rely on heavy pressure around the ball to create turnovers in the contest."
