Mark Mercuri is refreshed, revitalised and unlike the previous three years has a full pre-season behind him. The coaching panel has given him the new task of playing in the backline and after 11 years of being a forward, he is enjoying the challenge. Mercuri currently has his sights set on getting Essendon into the Wizard Cup grand final.

""They (pre-season premiership) are not the be all and end all, but I guess at the end of your career you can say you won three night premierships. At the time you enjoy them, but the main goal is the home and away season and looking towards Round 1,"" Mercuri said.

St.Kilda hasn’t defeated the Bombers since Round 8 1999, but Mercuri said it will be a different story tomorrow night at The Dome. ""Their guys have had a pretty good pre-season by the look of it. They have bulked up and a lot of the younger guys have matured physically and have an extra year of football under their belt.

""So it is going to be a tough game, but we are really looking forward to it and measuring ourselves next to these guys (St.Kilda) because they are going well, so we will see where we are at as well,"" Mercuri said.