ESSENDON made it two wins from two on the weekend with a win over St Kilda after getting a fast start on its opponent.

Despite falling to zero and two, it is not all doom and gloom for the Saints. For most of the game they were competitive, really pushing the Bombers and after a poor showing in Round 1 gave plenty for fans to be excited about.

While it may be frustrating to watch your team at the moment Saints fans, Rookie Me Central will take a look at why there is hope for the future of this season, and ultimately where the Bombers got over the line.

Midfield run

One thing against North Melbourne that the Saints really struggled with was getting any kind of midfield run. North’s midfielders were getting first use of the ball and the Saints spent the game playing fetch.

This was not the case on the weekend, where the Saints’ midfielders were able to find the space, link up and create some exciting passages of play. The combination of Hannah Stuart, Jaimee Lambert, Georgia Patrikios and Tyanna Smith started to show what strong cohesion can really provide. A very new midfield combination, the more time they play together, the more cohesive they will be, and the more exciting they will become.

Defensive match ups

St Kilda’s defensive end was more evenly matched against Essendon, and better able to provide defensive pressure than they were against the Kangaroos.

Someone like Grace Kelly in particular really showed her calibre on the weekend, finally showing the AFLW world what her defensive reading and intercept capabilities can truly be.

Forward set up

St Kilda’s forward line appeared to be structured better this week than it had been in Round 1. Not solely relying on Jesse Wardlaw to be that tall marking target is a huge step in the right direction for the Saints, and the Saints forwards also worked around Wardlaw better, giving her the space for her to be able to play her natural game.

Where things did go wrong

The first 10 minutes of the match.

What happened was that the Bombers’ pace caught St Kilda off guard, and their strong clearance work, particularly from the likes of Madison Prespakis, meant that they were quickly into their forward line and scoring within three minutes of the beginning of the match.

Inside 50 efficiency early in the match really cost the Saints too. In the first quarter alone, Essendon only had three more inside 50s than St Kilda did, but were 22.3 percent more efficient inside 50.

Compare this to the figures at half time, where Essendon had recorded seven more inside 50s than St Kilda, but the Saints had been 6.2 percent more efficient inside 50, and as such, were only five points behind.