Having watched the Richmond Football Club endure a horror week, Matthew Knights says he expects the Tigersto serve up a determined effort in Dreamtime at the 'G.
""Richmond played very well against Port Power last week,"" he said.
""They were up by three goals with a few minutes to play so they obviously played very well and we would expect much of the same. We are going to have to play at our top to win.
""Whether it's St Kilda last week or Richmond this week you put the same amount of effort into preparing.
""They (Richmond) trained for five months pre-season; they are all proud young men as are our guys so I am expecting Richmond to play very strong football.""
Essendon will again field an extremely young side and the coach says Richmond will be bigger and more experienced.
""My philosophy is that you are there to play and there to go out and perform your best and once you step out there I think it's irrelevant what's going on at home or behind the scenes you are just expected to play at your top, at your maximum,"" he said.
""We have six Indigenous players representing our club and we are looking forward to the clash and the night itself. They have all earned their spot and are playing strong football and being able to win this game would be fantastic for those young men.""
Knights said he wants the team to get off to a better start this week after a poor first quarter against the Saints.
Meanwhile, the coach has revealed that Mark McVeigh asked to return via Bendigo after missing two separate periods of training through injury.
""He wants to get a game under his belt and that fitness. It show lot of maturity when you have a leader of your club coming up saying 'I need to play in the VFL and get a game under my belt' and sometimes I am very much guided by my senior players and their maturity,"" Knights said.
""Sometimes one game is enough to get your confidence and start feeling good about yourself. If his ankle is fine and he's pain free, I think he will be back sooner rather than later, I don't intend to leave him there long because he's a player of the highest quality for us.""
Knights said that Scott Lucas isn't happy playing VFL but his attitude has been first class and predicted his senior recall isn't too far away.
