With the wolves at the door, Essendon coach Brad Scott says it's no time to continue preaching.
"I'm never going to tell Essendon fans to be patient," he said after copping a 63-point away drubbing from Port Adelaide.
"Because I reckon 25 years (between finals wins) is long enough to hear the same message."
But Scott does want Bomber fans to stick fat amid a troubling early start to the fresh campaign.
"If I'm an Essendon fan, I'm watching the character of these players, and particularly the younger players, who will make them proud one day," he said.
"And as frustrating as it is at the moment, good clubs stick together.
"No one wants to hear all the preaching about stability and all that sort of stuff right now.
"But the reality is, you've only got two options: you can give up or you can fight."
The Bombers' crushing loss to Port - down 50 points midway through the second term - followed a 62-point thrashing from Hawthorn in round one.
And Scott acknowledged there appeared a lack of desire to defend among his players.
"It's part of it, yeah, because it would be ridiculous for me to say that's not the case," he said.
"We're not hard-nosed enough in defence, full stop.
"That's just not defenders, that's all over the ground - senior players need to have more voice out there.
"I'm a coach who very rarely questions lack of effort, lack of fight.
"Because I think I know these guys well enough that they'll always give that, but there's no doubt we're demoralised."
