A near-miss on the Gold Coast, just months after a 95-point pounding by the Suns has given Essendon a look at a future coach Brad Scott thinks will arrive sooner rather than later.
The Bombers led in the third quarter and trailed by just one point in the final term before succumbing 17.17 (119) to 17.8 (110) on Saturday.
"We're disappointed. We put ourselves in the contest right from the outset," Scott said.
"We want to pretty quickly progress past just that to finishing off the job."
It followed a win against Melbourne a week earlier that snapped a 17-game losing streak and came after a one-sided flogging to complete their season on the Gold Coast last year.
"It's been interesting. A few teams talk about having a few players out. We had 20 out ... cry me a river," Scott offered when asked to reflect on that progress.
The coach said fundamental improvements were to thank for the display that saw their midfield win the clearance battle against the Suns' stacked engine room, albeit missing captain Noah Anderson.
"Nothing's changed in terms of what we're training and coaching ... there's no secret to it, it's contest work," he said.
"At the start of the year we were turning the ball over in some horrible spots and getting scored against.
"The last couple of weeks there's been things where you think, 'that's what we want to look like', and you can see what we're going to look like, sooner rather than later I hope."
He still tipped his cap to the Gold Coast midfield for producing the match-winning moments though and hoped Jordan Ridley (calf) was alright after his first-half exit.
"We're not sure if there's any damage there, but he had a tight calf, and we just have a no risk approach with him," he said.
"Fingers crossed he's OK, but we don't know."
