ESSENDON coach Matthew Knights has lauded his men’s team-first approach in the wake of the Bombers’ upset 44-point win over Hawthorn at Docklands on Friday night.

A restrained Knights praised the efforts of several players after the win but said Angus Monfries deserved special mention.

The young Bomber, along with skipper Matthew Lloyd (three goals and 15 marks), played every minute of the 17.14 (116) to 12.10 (72) win.

Knights said Monfries’ efforts in not only negating Luke Hodge but also forcing the Hawks star out of the Essendon forward half were just another example of the way the 22-year-old played his football.

“His selflessness is unbelievable,” Knights said of Monfries.

“I mean, he actually asked me early in the week if he could have a crack at that role [and] I was quite comfortable to go with that because Angus has got the discipline to try to work for the team but he’s also got the ability to find the ball.

“I think in the end they [Hawthorn] moved Hodge forward and moved him a little bit into the midfield, so I think Angus played a pretty big part in us winning the game.”

Monfries collected 22 touches, booted two goals and took 12 marks – one of them a contender for mark of the round.

With the emphatic win, Essendon jumped to a 4-3 record after seven rounds.

“It’s great to get a win at any time with a young group, and we’ve now had four this year and they’re all pretty vital,” Knights said.

“[But] I guess to beat the reigning premiers, with a team that I think we had maybe 11 guys [with] 25 games and under, I just thought it was a superb team effort, really.

“We saw a lot of team-orientated football tonight and just the resilience of the group [was great] tonight, to bounce back after we were really towelled up quite significantly last week.”

While Monfries, Lloyd and Nathan Lovett-Murray (three goals) did the damage in attack, much hinged on the performances of young defensive pair Tayte Pears and Cale Hooker.

They picked up lethal Hawthorn duo Lance Franklin and Jarryd Roughead and, despite the star goalkickers again gracing the scoresheet, the coach was happy with his stoppers.

“I’m pretty sure that maybe Franklin and Roughead ended up with seven between them, so that’s not a bad output [by them] to get seven goals,” he said.

“I did however think that Tayte and Cale held their own for most of the night in most contests… I thought Tayte’s job on Roughead was sensational and credit to the other four or five defenders for actually giving both of those young men a lot of assistance during the night.”

The Hawks are the latest big-name scalp the Bombers have claimed, joining Carlton and Collingwood.

Next week Essendon meets ladder leader St Kilda and Knights said his team couldn’t afford to lose focus or drop off in intensity.

“We’re a young team that’s improving but we have great performances but then we have games where we’re not so crash hot,” he said.

“Hopefully playing St Kilda next game… will be a bit of an inspiration for us for our guys to try to rise again.”