Essendon coach Mark Thompson has admitted to feeling a little nervous ahead of his first game as senior coach in over three years.

Thompson will coach his first home and away game since he was last in charge of Geelong for their 2010 preliminary final loss to Collingwood.

“I am a little bit nervous, very excited and I am really looking forward to it,” Thompson said.

“With all the training after a while you just want to get stuck into the season to see how they are going to go and we are really looking forward to it on Friday night.”

The two-time premiership coach has a 62% winning record having coached 242 games.

He said there were always nerves as a team prepares for their first match of the season.

“You always wish you could be a little bit better and be a little more confident that you are going to play well but that is life,” Thompson said.

“We are happy with where we are, hopefully we can play well and get the points as it is very important to win Round 1.”

“You just don’t know how you are going to handle it, you know that you have done it before but every time it confronts you then you start to wonder if you have still got it and we will find out I suppose.”