3 minute read

Peter Wright faces a long suspension for his hit on Sydney's Harry Cunningham but Bombers coach Brad Scott has backed his team's combative 'Essendon edge'.

Essendon coach Brad Scott has thrown his support behind Peter Wright and defended the Bombers' overtly physical approach following their fiery 30-point loss to undefeated Sydney at the SCG.

The Saturday night clash was barely four minutes old when the 203cm-tall Wright leapt into the air and landed a huge bump on 181cm Swans midfielder Harry Cunningham, who was left concussed.

Wright, who was targeted with boos from the crowd for the rest of the match, faces a lengthy suspension after the Bombers' 19.17 (131) to 15.11 (101) defeat.

"I can't comment on issues that might be before the MRO," Scott said.

"I'm not going to talk about the incident but the only thing I can say is Peter Wright is a well-known ball player - always has been, since he was a kid."

Wright was set upon by several irate Sydney players, before more spotfires erupted after Essendon ruckman Sam Draper cannoned into Jake Lloyd and conceded a 50m penalty.

Scott spoke on Thursday of wanting his charges to display a combative 'Essendon edge' but Swans forward Tom Papley, who starred with four goals and 24 disposals, accused the visitors of overstepping the mark.

"They're trying to get after us, it's all off the ball," Papley told Seven Network boundary rider Cameron Ling at halftime.

"We're just worried about the ball. We'll keep being hard in the contest and get the job done."

Scott is adamant his team's premeditated belligerence was the best way to foil the ladder leaders.

"Sydney have dominated the last few weeks and they've got a lot of players who are very slick and good with the ball in hand," he said.

"Their ball movement is very solid at the moment.

"If we just sat back and watched them do that, it was going to be a long, difficult night.

"We needed to combat that with some physicality in the contest.

"We could either make it into an athletics contest or we could compete in the contest and get the ball going our way."

Swans coach John Longmire wasn't surprised by the Bombers' blatant aggression as he counts the cost of the loss of Cunningham for the Easter Sunday encounter with Richmond.

"They clearly came out with an intent in the physical space," he said.

"They talked about it during the week and were very clear about the edge they wanted to play with.

"We knew they'd be coming with that.

"From our point of view it's going to be disappointing to miss Harry for a bit now."