There is no doubt that defensive skills are an integral part of a footballers make up - very few will succeed without them. Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy knows this all too well and has been happy to push forwards back and give rookie on-ballers tagging roles to teach them these crucial skills. In the past he has been criticised for pushing Matthew Lloyd and Scott Lucas into defence. Some even questioned the tagging roles continually given to Justin Blumfield and Chris Heffernan early in their careers - claiming their creativity was being stifled. But in the scheme of things, has it made them better players? There is no argument - it has done just that. The defence rests! Sheedy is now embarking on the same education process with Danny Jacobs.

Jacobs is unquestionably a talent. A great mark with excellent skills he can play both tall and short. Jacobs is only 20-years-old and before this season had just nine senior games under his belt. He had proven himself a genuinely dangerous forward prior to this season - the fact Sheedy decided to invest further in his talents and push him down back at stages during this season is a vote of confidence.

Admittedly injury probably forced Sheedy's hand to some degree with Dustin Fletcher and Dean Wallis having missed some football this season. However, Sheedy did have other options as key defenders but decided to go with Jacobs. The fact that Jacobs has managed to make the neccessary adjustments to his game is a sign that he is maturing as a footballer. Jacobs would admit himself that he didn't have the greatest game against Hawthorn, but two weeks later he turned it around and played an excellent game against St Kilda. Another sign he has arrived at this level.

""I've enjoyed the challenge,"" Jacobs said of his recent move to defence. ""Before this season I'd virtually never played in defence - I was mainly a midfielder or half forward. It has been a fair bit different to where I had usually played and it makes you think about football differently. In the mid-field or up forward there can be parts of the game that you just don't think about.""

The move has seen Jacobs curb his natural attacking style to a degree although he has shown that he still has the willingness to run off opponents when the chance arises. ""Sometimes the ball is turned over in the mid-field and you get caught out but you have to take a risk sometimes to create chances for your own side,"" Jacobs said.

""Sheeds said to me during the season that he wanted me to learn how to play down back. He said really good players had the ability to play at both ends of the ground and that it was something that I had to learn to do,"" Jacobs said. Of the 10 games Jacobs has played this season he estimates that 60% of his time would have been spent in defence.

""The players around me have helped me a lot. When you have players like Mark Johnson, Damien Hardwick and Sean Wellman around you it helps,"" Jacobs said. And it seems that Jacobs could get used to the move. ""I actually enjoy playing down there and I'm happy to stay down there. It will all depend on match-ups and who is in the team but I don't mind it at all,"" Jacobs said.