Essendon coach John Worsfold says he is confident key forward Mitch Brown can emulate his impressive performance against West Coast in 2018 when he takes on the Eagles again at Optus Stadium on Thursday.
Brown has been added to the Bombers’ line-up in the absence of injured forward Jake Stringer after kicking two goals from seven disposals in the opening half of the VFL side’s defeat of Box Hill on Saturday.
The hard-running forward was rested for the second half to prepare for the possible senior call-up and Worsfold expects Brown to be ready to fire against following strong two-goal display against the Eagles in round 14 last year.
“He kicked a couple of goals in the half, moved really well and was feeling good,” Worsfold said.
“He’s ready to go and we know the role he plays. He played really well over in Perth last year and he has always helped our forward line be a pretty efficient forward line.”
Brown hasn't lined up in the senior side since ANZAC Day. (Image: AFL Photos)
While Worsfold admitted Stringer isn’t far away from full fitness, he said he couldn’t guarantee when the star goalkicker will be able to return from his minor leg injury.
“It’s not precautionary, really he wasn’t going to be able to play at the required level, but he did everything he could.
“Initially, we were really worried it could have been an injury that was going to keep him out for while, but we were lucky there.
“But it’s also an injury that we’re not sure how quickly it is going to get back to 100 per cent. We’re still not really sure (how long it will take), he’s close this week, but how much better it will feel by next week, we’ll have to wait and see.”
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Essendon stunned the eventual premier last year when it booted the first nine goals of the contest in Perth to run away with a sensational 28-point upset win.
Essendon fans had good reason to cheer at Optus Stadium last year. (Image: AFL Photos)
Despite what played out in the remainder of the season as the Eagles claimed the flag, Worsfold sees some similarities in the side a year on from the game.
“If you go back to last year, some people had (the Eagles) outside of the eight and someone had them finishing last, but they just kept winning and kept doing their stuff and no one really said they were a premiership threat until later in the season,” he said.
“They’re similar (this year); they haven’t been setting the world on fire, but they’ve been winning games consistently and sit in the (top) eight.
“We know at home they’re always extremely tough (to beat), but our focus is playing our best footy and to keep building on the style of footy that we’ve slowly been building up this year.”
The Bombers’ speed tore their upcoming opponents to shreds last year and has been a prominent feature of the side again this year, but Worsfold warned it can’t be sustained for long periods.
“You can’t play with that sort of speed for a whole game, we don’t expect that we’re going to run out there and kick six goals on end for every 15 minutes of the game.
“We know the way West Coast plays; we’re going to defend really well, they’re very good at getting the ball forward and are very efficient in terms of scoring.
“That will challenge us, but we’re going to test them out with our ball movement as well.
“We have to play the three phases of the game really well; do well at contests, defend better than we have been – even though the numbers show that our scores against have been elite over the last seven or eight weeks – we still think we can get better at that, and then scoring off turnovers.”
Essendon speedster Adam Saad claimed three Brownlow votes against the Eagles last year. (Image: AFL Photos)
One young Bomber who has been a vital part of the side in the last fortnight is Dylan Clarke, who will line up again on Thursday with a NAB AFL Rising Star nomination under his belt.
Worsfold said he is “really pleased” to see the 20-year-old reaping the rewards on the field after his tireless work.
“He works really hard and he’s been very diligent in terms of being in good form for a long period of time.
“He was in good form last year and only got the one (senior) opportunity, and then this year he was maybe our best VFL player for a number of weeks.
“To see him get his opportunity was great for a start, and to know that that form carried on really well in the AFL, it’s a credit to him.”
The highly anticipated clash will begin at 6:10pm local time.
