Thompson blasts selfish Bombers

Essendon coach Mark Thompson discusses the Bombers' last gasp defeat to Melbourne on Sunday evening.

Essendon coach Mark Thompson rues the Bombers' missed opportunities. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: News Corp Australia

ESSENDON coach Mark Thompson last night said the week's ASADA controversy was no excuse for his side's dramatic fade out, accusing his side of playing for themselves.

A furious Thompson gave his players a fearful spray for 45 minutes after their loss to Melbourne made them the first side in history to lose despite 33 more inside-50s.

The Dons lost by a point after at one stage being 33 points up, but he suggested his players were selfish in failing to adhere to his rigid game plan.

It came as Essendon forward David said the players "hate" that outsiders use the ongoing supplements scandal as an excuse for when the team performs poorly.

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Thompson's mantra has been about predictability, but said the Demons taught his side a lesson in playing to a basic plan.

"I don't think we stuck to the game plan for long enough tonight. If you don't stick to it you have got no chance, because you have got a whole group doing what they want. That's what happened tonight.

"Talk is cheap if you don't get out there on the weekend and just do it. I am not upset we lost, I am upset by the inconsistency, the way we go about games.

"I just said, "Stop doing this', because if you are serious in what we do, just do it properly. Something has to change."

Asked what was said during the meeting Zaharakis said: "Just that we've got to become a stronger club, (get) a stronger culture at the club and have more leaders out on the field."

Zaharakis said a dramatic week at the club should not be used as a reason as to why the team faded out of the match.

"Us as a footy club, when we go out to train and stuff, we don't think about it at all, it's not in our heads," he said.

"We actually hate that people use this as an excuse because us, as footy players, do not use it as an excuse and we want people to know that."

A dramatic prelude to the contest saw 34 of Thompson's players hit with show-cause notices from ASADA, but the senior coach said it was a cop-out to say his players were affected.

"I haven't talked about it. I don't think it should be a factor. We have lived with it for two years, it is just another week at the office, really.

"If you talk about it, people could use it as an excuse, but it's not an excuse in my eyes.

We have lived with this and it was a bit worse than other weeks, but we have been smashed for two years so it's not as if they came out today and couldn't play because of the week they have had. We can't accept that."

Zaharakis is not one of the 34 players issued with show-cause notices last week, but said the players had a no-excuse philosophy.

"That's not just coming from me, it's all the boys," he said. "We spoke about it during the week that we hate that people talk about it. We don't use it as an excuse and we don't want to use it as an excuse.

"We're here to play footy and when we lose it's because we're not playing good footy."