Matthew Knights will not underestimate the opposition when Essendon line-up to play the Western Bulldogs this week despite beating them convincingly in Round 1 of the NAB Cup. Having recorded three wins from as many games, Knights believes the team he will line-up against on Friday night is a much improved version to that which his side faced earlier this year.

“We did play well and beat the Western Bulldogs credibly earlier in the year, but they have significantly improved since then,” Knights said. “They are up a few cogs from that game judging by what I saw in their performance last week.

“They are in very good form and played very good footy after quarter time, with their pressure and their tackling at first rate.

“They played aggressive footy on the inside and attacking, fast footy on the outside. When you have got those two mixes they are pretty lethal because they have got beautiful foot skills and can be a very dangerous team. They are not three wins and zero losses for no reason - t is because they are a good footy side.”

Essendon has shown their ability to post high scores and had 14 individual goal kickers in last weekend’s match against Carlton. Knights is aware of the Dogs’ ability to be equally damaging in front of goal but believes his side is well prepared, should it come to a shoot out on Friday night.

“My philosophy is, if we win 10 goals to eight then it is fantastic, if we win 20 goals to eight then it is great too,” Knights said.

“We just need to make sure that we are endeavouring to improve our game plan each week both offensively and defensively.

“We have a young coaching group and a young playing group who haven’t been together long. We are all building confidence in one another and we will come out and play hard again on the weekend and see what flows from that.

“I think the good thing about our group is that when facing a scoreline that read 20 to zip against the Kangaroos, or 15 points down to Carlton, we have the resilience to stay tough and keep believing in each other.”

Having lost Leroy Jetta to a hamstring injury in last week’s match, Knights will make at least one forced change this week. The coach has earmarked Nathan Lovett-Murray as a potential candidate to replace the young goal-sneak.

“If Nathan is able to make it through an intense session of training well today then I expect him to play in the seniors given he has only missed one week,"" he said.

“He completed a full pre-season and has shown his ability to play full game-time and we look forward to getting him back out there again.”