Essendon’s opening NAB Challenge match of 2014 against Gold Coast will serve as an important development step for the club’s young list.

The Bombers have named a young side to tackle the Suns on Monday night having left out experienced star trio Jobe Watson, Brendon Goddard and Paul Chapman.

Senior assistant coach Simon Goodwin said despite an inexperienced team taking the field, the match was crucial in the club’s pre-season campaign.

“We obviously have some players missing but there is an expectation at the club that the guys who are playing tomorrow will play for us at some stage during the year,” Goodwin said.

“It is important we play a brand of footy that we think we are capable of playing and get everyone on our list to play it which is the exciting part for the fans.

“We are keen to see if they can implement the style of play that we have been looking to play.

“We want to play an exciting brand of footy, a brand of footy our supporters can be proud of and we need these younger guys to be able to do it.”

Goodwin also predicted it would exciting to see Jake Carlisle and Joe Daniher working together in the club’s restructured forward line.

“We expect Joe Daniher and Jake Carlisle to form a pretty formidable forward half attack for us,” he said.

“We have trained Joe to be a forward and he will help out in the ruck at times but I think Paddy will start in the ruck.”

Essendon clash with the Suns kicks off at 6.10pm local time at Metricon Stadium on Monday night.