ESSENDON coach Matthew Knights denied Saturday night's loss to the Brisbane Lions was the result of an Anzac Day hangover and chose to pour praise on his side's opponents.

In a frank assessment of his team's performance in the 43-point loss, a week after its stirring come-from-behind victory over Collingwood, Knights said Essendon was yet to show the traits of a good side.

The Bombers faced similar inconsistency across rounds three and four – a hard-fought win over Carlton followed by a flat loss to North Melbourne.

But Knights said the Bombers had moved on quickly from last week's effort.

"Anzac Day was fantastic to have a great victory ... but I don’t think it was a let-down," he said.

"I think that’s underselling the Brisbane Lions. They beat us in all areas. Their contested ball was terrific, their tackling was great.

"They were always half-a-step in front of us and converted well inside 50. They were very crisp and their finishing was brilliant.

"Brisbane were earmarked to be a potential top-eight team at the start of the year so if you don’t come with the right attitude you’ll get beaten. That’s what happened tonight – we were clearly beaten by a better side.

"Good teams are able to string wins together and play consistent football and we’ve done nothing yet."

While the Lions kicked very well for goal, led by forwards Jonathan Brown (5.0) and Daniel Bradshaw (4.0), Essendon struggled dreadfully.

They finished with 9.14 for the match, with a number of misses from set shots.

Knights said Essendon's conversion and composure in forward forays were the two big areas that let them down.

"We’re trying to establish ourselves," he said. "We started with a new program 12 months ago and, yes, we’ve had some good wins but it’s a strong competition.

"North Melbourne and Brisbane can beat anyone on their given day as well so we were beaten on our merits both times.

"We didn’t capitalise on any of our times where we dominated the game and you just have to in the modern game because it will come back to bite you."

In a dismal night for the Bombers, Knights confirmed 300-game defender Dustin Fletcher would have scans on an ankle injury he suffered during the third term.

However, Knights pointed to positives in Tayte Pears, who kept Bradshaw quiet until a three-goal final term, and young tall Cale Hooker.

"Some weeks we’re going to run better than others and we endeavoured to run hard tonight, but Brisbane ran harder and stronger," he said.

"They worked harder than us and deserved their victory and we copped our right whack."