ESSENDON faces a challenging few weeks, with three matches in the next 16 days, but midfielder Jake Melksham says the club's focus remains firmly on this week's clash with the Gold Coast.

The Bombers meet the Suns on Saturday night at Metricon Stadium, before facing premiership hopefuls Carlton in round four and Collingwood four days later in their traditional Anzac Day game.

Melksham said he didn't think players would be rested this week with an aim to leave them fresh for the Carlton and Collingwood games and also predicted a challenging contest against the Suns, despite their 92-point loss to St Kilda yesterday.

"They're going to come out pretty hard because they got beaten heavily yesterday and we beat them heavily last year so we're not going to take the game lightly at all," the 20-year-old said on Monday.

"If we do that leading into round four and five playing against two quality sides then that's not going to be great for our performances."

Essendon has not won its opening three games of a season since 2000 - when it blitzed the competition and won the premiership - and Melksham said it was a developing trait of the side to win games it was expected to win.

"It's extremely important," Melksham said.

"If you're going to play finals you should really beat the sides that are below you, and if not beat the sides above you then really challenge them.

"It's really important for us as a group to get confidence, we're still maturing as a team and as young men, so I think it's going to be great if we can win these three games and push forward into rounds four and five with plenty of confidence."

Dustin Fletcher will play his 350th game this week against the Suns. The champion defender has made a trend of playing milestone matches interstate, with his 250th coming against Adelaide in 2006 and his 300th in Brisbane in 2009.

Essendon lost both of those games and is keen to reverse that form this week.

"It's a massive deal and it's a great honour for Fletch," Melksham said.

"If we can win interstate that'd be good for him, and his family and the club."

Follow Callum Twomey on Twitter at @AFL_CalTwomey.

Jake Melksham is a $344,400 midfielder in Toyota AFL Dream Team. Register your team here