Essendon coach Brad Scott has thrown his support behind Ben McKay, after the maligned key defender attracted Bronx cheers from his own fans in the Bombers’ breakthrough win over Port Adelaide.

McKay was Essendon’s boom recruit at the end of 2023, lured as a free agent from North Melbourne on a bumper contract.

But McKay and the Bombers’ defence have had a difficult start to 2025, including the brutal 61-point loss to Adelaide in round two, and he received Bronx cheers when taking marks early in Thursday night’s 9.18 (72) to 8.12 (60) win.

Scott didn’t believe the cheers were derisive, but made a point of how important McKay, who started his career under him at North Melbourne, had been.

“It’s funny that. I don’t think it was Bronx cheers - maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t,” he said.

“But he was the leading intercept defender on the ground for the most part of the game ... he was really, really important for us tonight.

“Ben McKay’s got all the attributes of a really good key defender. He’s a great size. He can play on all the big strong key forwards.

“When you have breakdowns all over the ground defensively, it’s usually the last line, key defenders, that get hung out to dry. And we hung them out to dry last week.

“We can get going and keep improving our system. Ben McKay is a really important part of what we’re doing, and I have great belief in his capability.”

Wingman Nic Martin echoed Scott’s thoughts: “Obviously, Ben was really disheartened with his performance, but the thing with him and Zach Reid for that matter and Mason Redman is we let them hang out to dry against Adelaide.

“We didn’t support them at all through our rotation or through our defence. So we really let them hang out to dry against quality players one v one.

“So they’ll go to work on their craft and their performance but it’s a team defence, it’s not individuals.”

Scott delighted in the “character” his defence showed and noted key defensive trio McKay, Jordan Ridley and former No.10 draft pick Reid, who shut down Mitch Georgiades later in the game, had barely played together.

“We’re optimistic about what it can look like going forward, but that doesn’t mean that we’re prepared to wait for it,” he said.

“We think they can do it now.”

Scott can’t guarantee Dylan Shiel will remain in the midfield after the veteran, who started the season off half-back, delivered an inspired performance in his return to his preferred position.

He praised “underrated” wingman Xavier Duursma and delighted in how “Batman and Robin” young pair Nate Caddy and Isaac Kako stepped up in big moments, along with debutant Saad El-Hawli.