Andrew McGrath isn’t shying away from Essendon’s current predicament and remains steadfast in his belief in the playing group’s ability to reverse the club's fortunes.
The young gun has re-signed with the Bombers for a further two years, tying him to the club until at least the end of 2022.
After a week which saw Adam Saad and Joe Daniher signal their intention to leave Tullamarine, McGrath said it was now vital there was “100 per cent buy-in” from the remaining players under new coach Ben Rutten.
“The last couple of weeks have been disappointing seeing senior players come out and request trades,” he said on SEN's Dwayne's World.
“Seeing good people requesting trades, it is a disappointing time for a footy club, but amongst all the (negativity), there’s an opportunity for people to grow. It’s going to give our younger playing group a bigger opportunity to grow into those roles.
“I think we have the right people at the club and the right system in place to be successful and we just need 100 per cent buy-in from our players and our playing group to work hard and be better for our fans and everyone who supports us so dearly.”
Essendon has constantly been in the news since their season came to an close, as they deal with several high-profile exits and murmurings around other senior players being unhappy.
While McGrath admitted that the noise externally about the club is “hard to ignore”, he said he felt confident things could be turned around quickly.
He said it was vital the playing group become a more committed and unified outfit if they wanted to challenge the top teams in the competition.
“It’s hard to ignore as there’s been a lot said about our footy club in the last two months,” he said.
“Of course, you hear it and appreciate the feedback that people are giving you but at the end of the day, and it’s the reason I feel so confident in the direction that we’re heading, because we have full control of it.
“There’s changes that need to be made in our playing group, we need to work harder as a group and be more committed and we have areas of our game that aren’t good enough compared to the top teams in the competition.
“These are things that we can address, and we’re determined to address. Although things might seem more negative than positive at the moment, a lot of the changes that we can and want to make at the moment are in our own hands.”
Earlier on Monday, SEN Chief Sports Reporter Sam Edmund reported that the club now believes no other players will look to leave during the upcoming trade and free agency and trade period.