Essendon coach James Hird defends decision to not play ruckman Patrick Ryder against Geelong James Hird has defended the decision to not play Patrick Ryder. ESSENDON coach James Hird last night stood by the clubs surprise decision to leave out ruckman Patrick Ryder. Hird said he was hopeful Ryder would re-claim his position next weekend against Brisbane but was adamant forward Scott Gumbleton deserved his place ahead of Ryder in the 28-point loss to the Cats last night. The Bombers won the hit-outs (35-29) and dominated the clearances (41-22) but struggled to contain the Cats" forward half livewires. "I think you reward players who play good football and reward the guys that are working hard and the unfortunate thing with Paddy was that he was playing good football but was suspended for three weeks," Hird said. Scott Gumbleton was playing really well and you can't - in this type of football, particularly at Etihad - go in with too many talls. We really went with Gumbleton over Ryder. I think it was a good call to keep playing Scotty. I think Scotty did some reasonable things, he kicked a couple of goals, looked very dangerous early. "He probably didn't hold his marks but I still think it was a good decision to go with a guy who has worked really hard over his career and has become a very good player."" While Ryder is likely to make his way back into the line-up for the Lions" clash, Alwyn Davey is in doubt after being subbed off with a hamstring injury. Hird said the Bombers needed to improve their ball use and believed the team missed Courtenay Dempsey breaking the lines in the back half. Dempsey (ankle) and Brent Stanton (adductor) will push for selection this week. "Not having Dempsey in the side really hurt us tonight with his ball use and his run and his ability to break open opposition teams ," he said. Dempsey out meant that we probably needed another small defender, but yeah, we are always looking for smart half back line players who can defend and attack and use the ball really well. "They are hard to find but we have been able to find (Michael) Hibberd and (Mark) Baguely through rookie lists and we've recruited a couple of younger ones."" Hird said the Bombers would rue missed chances against the Cats after leading by 18 points in the second term. "We certainly felt that we were in the game closer than what the score line said," Hird said. We would have liked to use the ball better in the second quarter when we had a three or four goal lead and also kicking 1.9 never helps. But I though the way the guys gave themselves to the game was excellent. They certainly never gave up and we'll learn a lot from that game.