McVeigh report a concern for Knights

ESSENDON coach Matthew Knights was happy with his side’s eight-goal win over Melbourne at Docklands on Friday night but might make a hasty trip home as he heads straight for the DVD player.

The Bombers’ mentor admitted he was concerned by a third-quarter report to crucial midfielder Mark McVeigh as his team faces crunch matches in coming weeks.

Knights didn’t see the incident in the dying seconds of the quarter, in which McVeigh was booked for striking Demons defender Jared Rivers.

“I must admit I’d just come down from the box just before the break and I saw the scuffle break out,” Knights said after the game.

“I was just preferring that our boys kept themselves out of trouble [but] that wasn’t the case.

“I haven’t seen the incident live yet, so I’ll have a look at that when I go home tonight. I’ve just got to see how it looks.”

McVeigh does not have any carryover points – the 74 demerit points he did have from earlier trips to the Tribunal expired in round three – however Knights admitted his club would be sweating on the AFL Match Review Panel’s assessment of the incident.

“We’d love to have him available for Carlton and Collingwood [in the next two weeks] … so it would be disappointing if he was rubbed out,” he said.

McVeigh was one of a number of Essendon players to perform well in the 19.17 (131) to 13.5 (83) win.

Knights said the convincing victory was just what his side – which enjoyed its week off – needed after recent losses to Geelong and Adelaide.

“I guess to win by 48 points and to get game time through [Andrew] Welsh, [Dustin] Fletcher, [Mark] McVeigh, [Brent] Prismall and [Kyle] Reimers was a real positive for us because you do run a little bit of a risk when you bring that many players back in that haven’t played a lot of footy,” Knights said.

“So I guess that was a bonus of the night, to get game time through them.”

The coach had special praise for Welsh, who in his first senior match of the year gathered 25 possessions – 10 of which were contested – and laid four tackles.

“I think Welsh was the amazing one, after 16, 17 weeks [and] the horrific injury that he had … to come back and actually contribute the way he did tonight was an excellent effort,” he said.

Melbourne pushed Essendon in the second term after it looked like it might be an easy night for the Bombers early on.

But Knights said the Bombers’ growing maturity saw his team respond with its devastating third-term burst that ended the contest.

“To the credit the players … raised those issues at half-time themselves in our meeting,” he said.

“It was good to see them address them because we were very, very shabby defensively in that second quarter. They turned it around and out of that effort defensively we got some good scoring opportunities.”