After three months in the job as Essendon coach, Matthew Knights admits training to date has been ""efficient"" but needs to pick up in key areas.

 

""To date, we have achieved what we needed to achieve and focused on some defensive action scenarios but, to be brutally honest, we are probably a little behind in our game learning and teaching,"" Knights said.

 

""We have had to spend some more time on skill and defensive actions, a little longer than I thought we would, but this is a priority so I am not too concerned by that.

 

""If you have to slow your teaching down a little to make sure the players properly understand what’s going on, that is the most important thing because we need to make sure we get it right.

 

""So while we are behind where I would like us to be from a game-learning perspective, I am very happy with where we are at from a fitness and rehabilitation perspective and where we are at with improvements with our skills.""

 

Knights said that during January and February the club will focus on game style.

 
""That is my philosophy for those two months and we will go hard on that then,"" he said.
 
""The reality is that we have our first NAB cup game in February - which we will be aiming to win - but we will also be making sure we are testing out that our game plans are working well for the season proper in March.""
 
Previously, Knights said he wants Essendon to play an exciting, attacking brand of football in 2008 and that the current list dictates this is the type of footy it should play.
 

When asked about which players have impressed him leading up to the Christmas break, Knights nominated representatives in three age groups.

 

""From a senior perspective, Mal Michael is significantly ahead of where he was last year simply because he didn’t have a pre-season last year. So the extra time has allowed him to be in good shape,"" he said.

 

""From the middle tier, it's really good to see Ricky Dyson and Jason Winderlich pushing themselves to get to the next level.

 

""And from a younger perspective, Kyle Reimers has certainly shown, particularly in the endurance based side of training, that he is really trying to gain ground in that area.
 
""That probably hasn’t been a strength as Kyle has been more a burst type of player but his running is getting stronger all the time which is really pleasing.""
 
The team will resume training on January 7 2008.