ESSENDON assistant coach Gary O’Donnell says he can see some similarities between the young 2009 Bombers side and the 1993 model that won the premiership.

O’Donnell played in the 1993 side filled with first and second year players.

“There’s a little bit (of a similarity). There are three or four old stagers and some good mid-range players and a lot of young guys still learning their craft. There could be some comparisons, but there is a long way to go,” he said.

“In that year we actually finished on top. This year if we are lucky enough we are going to be in the bottom part of the eight. It is a whole different scenario. We’ve got to earn the right and we still haven’t done that yet.”

O’Donnell said the key to defeating the Western Bulldogs this Friday night was a strong defence.

He said the two sides’ strengths were their scoring ability but the best defensive team would come away with the win.

“She’s a nice quick deck at Etihad Stadium. The ball travels from one end of the ground to the other pretty quickly,” O’Donnell said.

“Both teams have got a fairly potent goal-attacking force. You would expect plenty of goals. The team that is able to lock the other team down for long enough will win the game.”

O’Donnell said defence had been a key focus for the Bombers this year after earning a reputation for a free-flowing style of game.

“Last year we were known as a team that scored pretty freely for where we finished on the ladder. We didn’t have our defence right. This year we still have a long way to go but it has been an improvement on last year and we are about midfield as far as defence goes,” he said.

“For us to make finals it has to improve another 20 or 30 per cent for the next seven games.”

O’Donnell said Hayden Skipworth would be pushing for selection after missing last week with a leg injury, while Angus Monfries will spend another week on the sidelines to recover from a hamstring injury.