Dan Hannebery, Jordan Lewis and Chris Judd.  It’s a combination that reads like an All-Australian midfield.

Between them they’ve won five premierships, two Brownlow medals, one Norm Smith Medal and, for the record, eight All-Australians.

They’ve also had Jake Melksham by their side in the last few weeks.

With Heath Hocking injured, the Bombers have turned to the number 10 draft pick to run with the games elite on-ballers. 

On Saturday, Melksham restricted Judd to 20 possessions while collecting 15 of his own. 

“He’s very opportunistic around stoppages.  You think he’s no where near it or not going to get it and sure enough he does and he’s 15 metres clear,” Melksham said. 

“I just had to be physical on him and be aggressive and at times it worked and other times I was found out.  Not a bad result in the end.” 

The Blues were physical early. 

Paul Chapman left the field after a clash with Chris Yarran.

But the Bombers maintained their focus to take a handy 27-point half time lead.

“We were pretty measured.  We were dishing it up to them and saying a few things and they didn’t like that,” Melksham said.

The Blues came home with a rush but Essendon found a late steadier via 100 gamer Ben Howlett.

“Probably in the past those kinds of games we might have lost,” Melksham said.

Essendon now turns its attention to another rival, Collingwood. 

The Pies are coming off a 74-point win against St Kilda. 

“We need to get back to our pressure, our tackling, loose ball gets and contested ball like we did against Sydney and Hawthorn,” Melksham said.