DESPITE missing 258 AFLW games of experience between five players and replacing them with a total of six, Essendon showed off its depth during a 15-point win over Richmond. The 6.7(43) to 3.10 (28) win was far from clinical, but the Bombers remained unbeaten in season 2025, while Richmond slumped to an opposite 0-3 record after the loss at TIO Stadium on Friday night.

Richmond had 11 more inside 50s (40-29) and the same amount of scoring shots, but could not capitalise as well, with Essendon coach Nat Wood admitting her side was fortunate the Tigers were a little wayward on goal.

“It’s always great to get wins,” she said. “We knew coming up to Darwin and taking on Richmond who have played some really good footy tonight. “We always knew it was going to be a strong contest and I thought Richmond probably ruing not getting a bit more scoreboard pressure at one point, and we were the same. “The game stayed nice and close and it was getting pretty tight in the fourth, bit of deja vu from last week.”

Wood was proud of many of the young players standing up when required, often under immense heat.

“We’ve got a lot of new players, we’ve been talking about belief and connection,” she said. “That ability to keep turning up. It won’t always translate into wins, but when the game was on the line, our group united and stayed true to task and were prepared to do different roles and adapt to those quickly was exceptional.”

Richmond did not do a lot wrong other than the scoreboard, sharing the time in possession, dominating the hitouts, winning the contested possession and getting the ball inside 50 consistently. Wood admitted she was “a little nervous” with the repeat Tiger inside 50 entries.

“Also we only had 29 across the day and that’s probably a little bit lower than we would like to be able to do, so we were missing some opportunities to move the footy,” she said. “We thought they covered off some exits from us pretty well. We played into their hands and kicked down the line to Poppy Kelly. The turnover metres gained, I thought they really controlled that.

“Then when they were peppering the goals in the fourth, and that’s what I mean when I talk about the belief and the connection. for the group to withstand that, keep turning up, keep competing in the contest, pressuring the shots on goal, not dropping their heads and then for us to be able to edge the ball out and get it forward, and then to score off the back of that, I just think that belief and connection with their craft and the team play, I thought that was really good.”

While the talking point during the week was how the Bombers would cope without key forward Bonnie Toogood due to a two-game suspension, Wood noted it was not just Toogood who was out of the Essendon lineup.

“Obviously it’s well documented without Bonnie, but we’re also without Maddi Gay, Sophie Van De Heuvel, Steph Wales and Brooke Brown,” she said. “Just ran some numbers and out of those five, we’ve got 258 games out, with the players we’ve brought in they’ve got a total of six. So across the ground we’re really young and we’re 10 players with 12 games or less.

“The fact that we’re building our team play, building our culture, building our connection and belief and finding ways to win with five of our most prominent players off the field, I’m super proud of this group and that will only hold us in good stead as our list gets healthier. Even with that, the three replacement players that weren’t with us at the start of preseason … who were late to the party with us as well; the fact that we’ve been able to keep building that connection together, I think is quite incredible.”

Richmond coach Ryan Ferguson was equally “proud” of his group and how they applied themselves in what he described as a “great game of footy”.

“I know we didn’t get scoreboard nourishment and we wanted to take more shots in front of goal and hit more goals and create more opportunities, 3.10 and 10.3 looks a bit different,” he said. “I thought it was two teams going at it, like the high pressure both trying to get to space, trying to play the right way.

“I thought we were overrunning them in the second half and we almost had them on the ropes and we just couldn’t take those moments and they were really good at taking some moment that took energy back in their favour. “It was a great occasion, love coming to Darwin, both teams invest in it, we give back and then come out here and go at it. I’m really proud of the group and how we played.”

After describing his troops as “low on confidence” the week before, he said the loss to the Bombers was anything but.

“I thought they were so tough, so mentally strong, played out every moment,” Ferguson said. “I thought the game was still in the mix and the scoreboard went against us, we fought back to the point where we almost had them on the rope. That’s the other challenge and the Bombers had to absorb momentum at the right time. Sometimes that ebbs and flows, and we really respect what they did. But I thought with how we were really getting at them but we just couldn’t get that finishing touch.”