Star forward Jake Carlisle has admitted he didn’t think he was capable of producing the sort of performances he has over the last month.

Before a relative quiet night on the weekend during Essendon’s narrow loss to Sydney, Carlisle booted 12 goals and took 31 marks in his last two matches alone.

“I didn’t actually believe I could do it,” he said.

“The last three of four years I was developing as a backman, and then last season and probably the one before that, I was beginning to play on the number one forward and I’d like to say I did my role most times.”

“But Bomber just sat down with me at the start of the year and said we’re lacking a bit of a forward target and he thought I could be a better forward then a defender.”

The 22-year-old experienced a run of patchy form during the early part the season but has since developed to fight through the difficulties that a key forward faces as he discovers his role.

“I think the learning, the mental side of things and the belief that I could actually be a forward helped me to get me where I am now,” he said.

“It wasn’t my night the other night, but that’s what happens in a game as a forward, you do get targeted or someone might be all over you, and that’s what happened to me earlier in the year, and I’ve just got to fight through that and learn from it.”

Carlisle said his eight-goal haul against the Bulldogs two games ago was a result of the belief instilled into him by continued support of the entire coaching group.

“It was just a bit of confidence,” he said.

“I’ve played forward most of the year and credit to Bomber and the coaching staff, they’ve kept faith in me.”

“I suppose I just went for my marks as a forward does and it does help when the midfielders kick it to your advantage.”

“When it’s in the air, my role is to run, jump and create a contest and I felt that I did that.”

“My role that day was to stay a bit more at home, but credit to my teammates, they laced my up a few ones on that day as well.”

Yet Carlisle conceded while he experienced a rare patch of form, its something he needs to keep working on to maintain a level of consistency.

“It’s a lot of hard work going into my form and it’s not something that just happens overnight.”

“It is something that I value and I want to keep going for the rest of the year and hopefully my career.”