Essendon coach Matthew Knights has praised the efforts of his young midfield after it engineered a Round 1 NAB Cup victory over Brisbane on the Gold Coast tonight. Essendon led at every change to win by 27 points with its much improved skill level a key to the victory.

 

“The starting midfield was very young and it was good to see Angus Monfries play against Luke Power and Heath Hocking, Sam Lonergan and Ricky Dyson all showed bits and pieces of good play. I wouldn’t say all of them were the complete package tonight but there were some good signs,” Knights said.

 

“Coming to the game tonight we wanted to walk away and be convinced we had another six or eight players that could really vie for selection so when we sit down to pick our team for Round 1 against the Kangaroos we have 30 to 35 players to pick from.

 

“We have a achieved that to a degree tonight – there were a number of young players that played quite well and they will need to keep working over the next month to prove their worth.”

 

Knights and his coaching panel have worked long and hard on improving the team’s skill level over the off season and it reaped immediate rewards this evening.

 

“One of our pillars that had to be improved was our skill level – we needed to hit our targets and I thought it was better tonight. It has to be an area we need to build on. We turned the ball over too much last year and it really hurt our key backs like Dustin Fletcher and Mal Michael.”

 

Despite kicking into the breeze in the first quarter, Essendon went into the break with a 12-point lead. There were a number of excellent contributors early in the game, most notably Angus Monfries, Bachar Houli and Ricky Dyson whose attack on the ball was superb. Essendon early dominance was soured by a hamstring injury to Scott Gumbleton – an injury that is still being assessed.

 

Essendon kicked a further five goals in the second quarter and took a 31-point lead into the main break. David Hille was proving a handful for the Lions, resting up forward and kicking three goals. Paddy Ryder also started to have a significant influence on the game as did Courtenay Dempsey who was looking very much at home playing across half back. Jay Nash was another playing good football off half back.

 

Essendon had numerous opportunities to bury Brisbane in the third quarter but poor kicking for goal kept Brisbane in the game. They managed just 1.8 for the quarter but went into the final break with a 33-point lead after keeping Brisbane to one super goal.

 

Click here to purchase your 2008 membership.

 

Dempsey was again the standout and was rookie Rhys Magin whose work rate was outstanding. The passage of play that resulted in Essendon’s sole goal for the quarter was thanks to some superb tackling and harassment from Magin and Kyle Reimers causing Brisbane to eventually cough up the ball.

 

Both sides tired in the last quarter although Brisbane closed the gap to 22-points with 10 minutes to play. It was another good sign that the Bombers were able to steady and run out comfortable point winners.
 

Mal Michael had his hands full with Brisbane youngster Lachlan Henderson but Knights said he was pleased with the pre-season Michael had put together so far an anticipated he would be a key player this season.

 

“Mal joined us late last year and that is the reality. You are playing catch up when you miss two months pf pre-season. This year he hasn’t missed a session and he is jumping out of his skin. He wanted to play tonight – I gave him the option but he wanted to come up and play,” he said.
 
""I have asked him to be a real leader of this Club and to start mentoring our young defenders. He and Dustin Fletcher won’t be around forever.

 

Knights also singled out Queensland pair Courtenay Dempsey and rookie Rhys Magin for their performances.

 

“Courtenay Dempsey had an horrific run with injuries last year – we just could not get any training into him at all. Thankfully this year he has completed a full pre-season and he gave us some real dash at times. Rhys has only been at the Club a short time but he is a pure footballer – we know he has to work on strength and fitness but he did a couple of nice things tonight that suggest he might play a role in the future,” he said.

 

“I feel good because we had a good win. I said to the players it was a great result to travel and win with such a young side. I was nervous before the game but nervous for the players and in particular the young players like Sam Lonergan, Danny Chartes and Courtenay Dempsey who have trained so hard and haven’t always had the chance to play in front of a crowd and on television.”