Essendon midfielder Jake Melksham reacted strongly to feedback from his coach during the week with a strong performance against the Crows on Saturday night.

The rising midfielder was among the best for Essendon, gathering 24 disposals, laying seven tackles and booting a goal.

“Bomber has spoken this week about just enjoying your footy again,” Melksham said.

“I think he put the acid on a few of us, some of us have been struggling, including myself.

“He just wanted us to go out there, play footy and not worry about what’s going on outside that you can’t control it.”

“I think you would have seen if you had a look, when blokes were kicking goals we were getting right around each other and just really started to enjoy each other’s company again.”

Melksham applauded teammate Michael Hibberd’s efforts off the half back line, especially late in the game after copping a heavy knock to the shin.

“I think he had a corky that really worried him for a little bit there.”

“Bomber praised him to the group (after the game). I didn’t know he had a cork but he played throughout and played really well.”

“We really appreciate those types of efforts from your teammates when the game is in the balance and he stands up like he did, that’s something you can’t buy.”

It was a case of déjà vu against the Crows with the Bombers nearly surrendering a considerable lead after an electric start.

Essendon ended up doing it the hard way, grinding out a nine-point win after leading by as much as 36 points midway through the third term.

“We’ve experienced that before with ANZAC Day,” Melksham said.

“I think we were in a similar position and ended up losing.”

“Then last week was a bit similar as well, so it was good to just get home in the end and battle it out when it got really hard.”

The 22-year-old midfielder said the flying start was significant nonetheless.

“It sort of took me back to ANZAC Day when we came out and played some strong footy and our pressure was really good around the footy.”

“We were out numbering really well, and every time Adelaide got it we had really hard contested footy around them.”

“I think they were a little bit spooked and we definitely got the scores on the board kicking seven (goals) straight.”

Giving opposition teams a way back into the game has been a notable weakness of the Bombers this season, yet Melksham believes they can eradicate the issue.

"I think what happened was in the second quarter, it’s happened before, we get a bit of a lead and take the foot off a little bit."

"We just sort of drop away a little bit around the football in terms of pressure and leave it to too few and think it’s going to be the senior boys get us through.

"We just have to re-jog our memories while we’re out on the field and let the boys know that we just have to fix up the contested stuff.

“But I think Adelaide, to their credit, did come back a bit and kept us on our toes.”

The former top-ten draft pick was in everything Saturday night, even the contentious Ben Howlett goal from the boundary.

“I was actually about five meters from him and I saw it drifting though and it hit the post, then I turned around and Benny was giving the crowd a bit of love so I just jumped over and joined him,” joked Melksham.

“I remember looking to the goal square and they sort of looked a bit confused.”

“The umpire asked the goal umpire, then all of a sudden he put his hands out to signal it was a goal, so I was pretty happy with it and started running back to the middle.”

After enjoying the victory, Melksham said the team has quickly turned their attention to a vital game on the big stage.

“We are looking forward to Friday night against the Cats.”

“We’ve had them a couple of times in the recent years on Friday night and last year they had the better of us so we’re really looking forward to the challenge.”