ONE OF Matthew Lloyd's proudest moments as captain of Essendon - a role he held for four seasons from 2006-09 - was when the Bombers beat Adelaide in round one, 2007, by 31 points.

Essendon had come off a horror 2006 season. It finished second last (to Carlton), won only three games, and lost a club-record 14 games in succession.

Adelaide, meanwhile, had been favourite to win the '06 premiership before a late-season capitulation saw it stumble into the preliminary final before being beaten by the eventual premier West Coast.

Mostly, however, it was Essendon's horrible interstate record - particularly at AAMI Stadium - which saw it deemed such outsiders to win the opening round contest.

Lloyd said the win was centred on the basics - tackling, harassing, and pressuring - and a different approach than the club had been renowned for.

"We said, 'lets pressure them when we haven’t got the footy' and we just forgot about kicks, marks and handballs and we had a massive win against them," Lloyd told afl.com.au.

"We just hit them with everything and we grew because of the start we got off to and ended up winning by five goals. It was one of my proudest victories I had as a captain because it had been such a hoodoo for us.

"But, in recent times, it's gone back to what it was beforehand," said Lloyd, who played in only four wins from 16 games at the venue.

On Friday, Essendon will play Adelaide at AAMI Stadium, where the Bombers have lost 14 of their past 16 games.

The Bombers haven't won under lights at the ground since 2004, and their losses have included a 138-point drubbing in 2006 and 96-point loss to the Crows in the 2009 elimination final.

Explaining that deficiency interstate, Lloyd says, is a number of factors.

"Number one, it's been a pretty lean decade," said the 33-year-old, who retired at the end of 2009 after playing 270 games and kicking 926 goals for the club.

"The conditions were often dewy and wet and Essendon hasn't played the conditions well. And they have been a really good home and away team, and a lot stronger than Essendon has been, in that period.

"In saying that, you can't put it all down to that factor. A lot of it has been the mental side of it where the crowd gets involved and they've always got off to a good start and it's been a monkey - or a gorilla, really - on the back of Essendon as a club."

While Lloyd said his former club struggled with the ground's dimensions, and battled to curb the influence of Adelaide's key players at home, it's his admission that Essendon knew it struggled at AAMI Stadium which is perhaps most important.

Reality bred doubt, a doubt which overcame the Bombers when they arrived at West Lakes.

"It was a ground that we always struggled with and felt like they were always a five-goal better team when we got there," he said.

"We loved looking at the draw and seeing them at Etihad Stadium because it'd be the same, they've struggled against Essendon at Etihad."

Lloyd, who played in the club's 2000 premiership alongside James Hird, said the current Bombers coach wouldn't be playing on the poor record to motivate his team.

"I think he'd say this is a new group of players he's got. The game style of pressing up and applying pressure that he's implemented, James will think that if that's on, it should be no different where they are playing," Lloyd said.

"The more he makes of it the more it could play on the players minds so I'm sure he'll just take it in his stride."

Callum Twomey covers Essendon news for afl.com.au and essendonfc.com.au. Follow him on Twitter at @Cal_Twomey.