Essendon coach Brad Scott has shut down questions about his skipper Zach Merrett, who again spent considerable time in the forward line and out of the midfield at Optus Stadium on Thursday night.

Merrett, the Bombers’ best midfielder and ball-user, racked up just 17 possessions in the 41-point loss to the Dockers, his second lowest tally of the year and his third sub-20 possession game.

In the last quarter, Merrett was barely sighted, playing mostly deep in the forward line. He did not get a kick and managed just two handballs for that term.

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Speaking about his role before the game, Merrett told Seven he was just doing his bit for the team.

“I try and be as flexible as possible and bring these (younger) guys along,” he said.

“I still want to play good footy myself and lead from the front, but I also want to make sure I give space and empower those guys around me to keep coming through and give them opportunity to develop as well.”

Jye Caldwell and Darcy Parish did the bulk of the heavy lifting in Essendon’s midfield, but they clearly needed help against Fremantle’s dynamic duo of Caleb Serong and Andrew Brayshaw.

However, Scott did not want to discuss the use of Merrett after the game.

“Is there an approach to keep filtering some of those new faces through (the midfield) rather than turning to someone like Zach Merrett to spend more time in the middle?” Scott was asked.

“Yeah, Merrett played a lot of midfield today,” was all he said, appearing to bristle at the question and silencing the room.

From rounds 1-11, Merrett’s centre bounce attendance (CBA) record during games was at 70 per cent. From rounds 12-15, that has dropped to 42 per cent.

Scott did admit, however, that they were “beaten” in the midfield by Fremantle and “that stoppage was a bit of an issue”.

Out-of-form young gun Archie Perkins is also on Scott’s mind, with the Essendon coach committed to helping the top-10 draft pick become a tackle-bursting midfielder again.

Perkins endured a forgettable moment during the game when he took his eyes off the ball and fumbled what should have been an uncontested mark while running into attack.

The 23-year-old had started the game as the sub for a second straight week, and he looked despondent as he ran to the bench following his third-quarter blooper.

There were big hopes Perkins would develop into an out-and-out midfield star after he was selected with pick No.9 in the 2020 national draft.

But after producing a breakout campaign in 2023, Perkins looked like a player who lacked confidence last year, and it’s continued into 2025.

Scott is keen to help the 93-game midfielder reach his potential.

“Perkins is a strong, powerful footballer who, at his best, is breaking through tackles, competing really strongly,” Scott said.

“He’s a really strong aerialist. And right at the moment, he’s doubting himself a little bit.

“And so my job is to remind him of what he’s really good at — go back and have a look at those things,

“He’s just making mistakes through hesitation at the moment.

“It’ll come for him. We’ve just got to persist. It’s easy to criticise, but coaches aren’t critics. They’re there to help.”

Thursday’s 16.8 (104) to 9.9 (63) result marked Essendon’s fourth straight defeat, leaving them with a 6-8 record heading into their bye week.

The Bombers have already fielded an astonishing 11 debutants this season, and Scott is hopeful the worst of his club’s injury dramas are behind them.

Essendon currently have 13 players on their injury list.

Kyle Langford (quad), Jordan Ridley (hamstring), Mason Redman (calf) and Zach Reid (hamstring) could all return after the bye, but Sam Draper (Achilles) and Nick Bryan (ACL) are among the players out for the rest of the season, while Ben McKay (foot) has no date set for his return.

“We might get some players back after the break,” Scott said.

“We’ll definitely get (Sam) Durham back, for example, from suspension, and there’s probably five or six others that will be close.

“But now we’ve got to balance, is it a risk to bring five or six back all at once? We’ll have to assess where they’re at.

“Those players will have a really strong training session this weekend.

“They won’t have the same bye week that all the other players will have. So we’ve got two weeks really now to get them ready and then make an assessment as to whether we bring some back.”

- With AAP