We take a look at some of the key quotes from co-captain Jarrad McVeigh heading into this weekend's match against Essendon.

His own form to start the season
“The first three weeks for me were some pretty tough games against Adelaide, West Coast and Brisbane. I feel like now my body is getting accustomed to AFL football again so I am looking forward to putting in a good performance this weekend.”

What he expects from Essendon
“They've been really competitive. If you look through their midfield they've still got (Adam) Cooney, (Matthew) Leuenberger has come in, (Brendon) Goddard, David Zaharakis, so they've got a lot of quality names in there. We respect those guys greatly. They've obviously had their challenges over the past couple of years, but we've prepared for their best and I'm sure they'll bring that on the weekend.”

Preparing to take on the Bombers
“We focus on ourselves a lot and what we bring to the table and if we can control our pressure and hardness around the footy, we think we can win a lot of games. We've studied them closely and got to know all of their new players, so there won't be anything out of the ordinary that we haven't seen from them."

Improvement in his game this season
“I haven’t been that happy with my performances overall and the touch is something that you can’t replicate at training. It is slowly getting better and another week this week will be handy for me.”

Lance Franklin’s start to the season
“He is probably one of the most unselfish forwards in the game. He gives off a lot and he gets the rewards on the back of that. His form has been great. He is working extremely hard on and off the field. It is a pleasure to see him out there playing well because he gives the team a lift every time he is out there.”

Gary Rohan’s return
“Gary has been training really well. He played his first game on the weekend and showed a lot of those signs that we love about Gaz. Hopefully he can get back into the team quickly as we love what he brings to the table. The roles may change and personally I play a lot of different roles every week so it won’t change much for me.”

Academies in the northern states
“It seems to come up after they win a big game but they (the academies) provide a lot of talent for this region. We have Isaac and Callum in our team and that is just two players from the hundreds that come through the academy. We think they provide a good talent pool for all teams and you pay the price in the draft if you do want to pick them up.”