Kane Cornes believes Essendon’s defensive shortcomings are the main reason Bombers’ senior coach Ben Rutten is under significant pressure.
Essendon are in the midst of a horror season, currently sitting 16th on the ladder whilst conceding the fourth-most points in the entire competition.
After Rutten was handed the reins at the end of 2020, Cornes expected the Bombers to make pressure their trademark.
However, the club was middle of the pack defensively in 2021, and it has now become their biggest weakness.
“We were all told (Rutten) was a great defensive mind and going to be a really strong defensive coach, so that’s where I get concerned, how easy they are to play against,” Cornes said on SEN’s Crunch Time.
“Worst in the competition at putting pressure on, worst in the comp basically, take West Coast and North Melbourne out of it, at defending backline transition, that’s where you’ve got issues.”
Essendon has shown that they are capable of being a strong defensive unit, with pressure being the trademark in their shock Round 14 victory over St Kilda.
However, it was this win that gave Cornes the most concern for Rutten.
“The St Kilda game was the one where you thought they’re coming from everywhere, the frontal pressure which we hadn’t seen,” he said.
“It’s almost an indictment on the group that you haven’t been doing this, no team does it every week, even Melbourne don’t do it every week”
“(Mason) Redman and all these players were just taking the game on, then you go, ‘okay we’re excited’ and then bang you lose to West Coast
“They can do it, that’s the concern.”
Should Essendon decide to move on from Ben Rutten, four-time premiership coach Alastair Clarkson is a rumoured replacement, a move that Cornes believes the Bombers should have made already.
“It feels like the race is sort of GWS, North Melbourne, Essendon now and is someone prepared to jump sooner rather than later to give themselves the opportunity to get him?” he added.
“100 per cent, they should have done it (approach Clarkson) four weeks ago.”
The Bombers will travel to Brisbane for a tough matchup with the Lions next week.