"We didn't make the most of our opportunities, we didn't kick straight - if we'd done that, who knows, we could have been a few more goals up. We maybe could have shut the door. To Essendon's credit, they just kept coming and they made the most of their opportunities."

"The work rate definitely wasn't there. I felt pretty flat pretty early which is unusual, but at the end of the day there are no excuses. I was no good and I was disappointed with my game, particularly because I thought I'd had a good pre-season."

"Unfortunately I took out Corey Jones in the first 20 seconds and that didn't help us but with all of us up and running there will be some good options down there in attack for us this season."

"I had been good all week, I didn't feel any nerves until this morning and once I went out onto the ground for the warm-up I felt what I had been missing out on for the past year and it felt good."

"Perhaps that might have helped the Bombers a bit better than us losing Corey because I thought that Lloyd, it looked like he was enjoying it."

"It is disappointing to lose. I think we had 48,000 here today and I think we sold over 1,000 memberships, so you know that gets you even closer to 30,000. From that aspect it's disappointing."

"I think we hit the post five times for the day. In that period of time I think they got a goal from a free kick and a couple out of the stoppages and you know, it evens itself up pretty quickly. I think David Hale was probably one of the main culprits. I think he kicked three points maybe in the first quarter and a half."

"We're still trying to build a new team, essentially. It's only one game into the season and a couple of games from the pre-season. We're just looking to improve and try and implement slowly the new coach's game plan. I think that will be an on-going process for the whole season."

"To see him come back and gather with players and give a springboard from attack. What do you say, it is an amazing story he is an amazing person. He has got his spring and his speed back which is a big part of Adam's game. He will be very good for our club this year."

"A lot more ball started coming through me because Scotty went off the ground. He's just been our best player over a three-year period, a lot of the times when I haven't been there. So now a year after my year-ending injury, I'm confident I can really take charge while he won't be out there."

"The Kangaroos had touched us up the last six years so there was a real grit and determination to change that. North Melbourne finished fourth last year. We are really impressed with the way they go about their footy and play for each other. We had to match that. We had to be at our very best to beat them."

"I could easily say new coach, new team, it doesn't really matter. But the reality is we haven't beaten the Kangaroos for a long, long time. It was good for the club to win today under those circumstances."

"It's a really disappointing injury and it's disappointing for Scott because he's had a stellar pre-season and he was really looking forward to putting his stamp on the forward line with Matthew. It's frustrating but I'm sure he'll go about his rehab diligently and he'll be back when he's right to go again."

"There wasn't a lot going right early, but we did hang tough until we swung some momentum our way, which was pleasing, and then we executed on the scoreboard. We were a touch crude and second to the ball, and then I thought we started to win contests, especially at stoppages in the second quarter and we started to get our running game up and moving."