ESSENDON coach Matthew Knights has defended key forwards Matthew Lloyd and Jay Neagle, after they were held goalless during Adelaide’s 16-point win at Docklands on Sunday.

Although the Essendon skipper had 14 touches, Knights said Lloyd's day was made harder by the fact he had reigning All-Australian centre half-back Nathan Bock playing on him.

"Lloydy had his hands full there and he'll live to fight another day. But Lloydy has been really good for us in the first half of the year," Knights said after the match.

"He's done an enormous amount of work and we have to pay him and [Adam] McPhee a lot of credit, because they're the two senior players that we've had one at either end [of the ground], playing with the younger guys."

Neagle had just three disposals, including one kick, but Knights said the 21-year-old was not in danger of losing his spot in the team.

"Yes, he was disappointing today, but … he's a really promising player in my view,” he said.

"We felt in last week's game his meaningful leads were up and he worked really hard against the best defence in the competition in Geelong.

"His reflexes and agility are quite good, but I think with Jay, it's continually working on his base fitness. He's going to be at his best when he has another couple of full pre-seasons under his belt.

"At the moment, he's a huge talent, but as a coach sometimes you've got to absorb a bit of the negative sides of young players' games and know the upside is eventually going to be … fantastic for the group.

"He would love to work harder in games, but it's only going to come in time."

Knights said veteran Scott Lucas’s form was the silver lining in the loss.

Lucas, who has been out of the side since round six and has since played with the Bendigo Bombers in the VFL and been an emergency for the past two rounds, was one of Essendon's best, finishing with four goals.

The 263-gamer was something of a go-to man after playing up forward, in the ruck and down back.

"It was very pleasing from my perspective to see Scott come back and have an impact," Knights said.

"He's been through a tough period over the last month playing in the VFL. When you've been such an amazing player in this league and then to go back and play in the VFL at this stage of the year can be really tough, so he's handled it well and full credit to him today. I was rapt to see him get a couple of goals and contribute.

"I've got no doubt he'll be able to make an impact for us in the second half of the year."

The second-year Essendon senior coach said plenty will now be expected of Mark McVeigh, Kyle Reimers, Brent Prismall, Andrew Welsh and Dustin Fletcher after injury-interrupted starts to the year.

"A lot of these young boys have done a power of work in the first half of the season and those senior boys are going to have to come in and help carry some load," Knights said.