The second-year coach plans to play Matthew Lloyd, Scott Lucas, Jay Neagle and the returning Scott Gumbleton up forward, and to assign other tall timber to the attacking half.
"Throw in Adam McPhee and David Hille, who goes forward a bit, and I guess we'll resemble a tall timber forest, but I'll stick to it because we've just got to get games into Neagle and Gumbleton," Knights told The Sunday Age.
"I know it's left of centre and it will be 10 or 15 games before you might see some progress, but in the short term I'm not interested in their form because in the long term I know it's the right thing to do."
Gumbleton, a 197cm centre half-forward from WA who was pick No.2 in the 2006 NAB AFL Draft, has played only five games in two seasons due to injury, but the Bombers says he is sizzling in the pre-season, recently recording a remarkable 15.4 beep test.
Knights also said that midfielder/forward Andrew Lovett was "starting to win back some respect from the playing group, but he's got a long way to go there."
Lovett was almost traded by Essendon after a 2008 season in which his form fluctuated and the club was disappointed with his off-field commitment.
"Andrew is living in a townhouse in South Melbourne on his own and we meet every two weeks to talk about his progress and other things," Knights said.
"Deciding whether or not to trade him was one of the toughest decisions I've had to make here.
"I've ended careers of some good people who wanted to play on like Damien Peverill, and you're breaking their heart, but with Andrew if we could have done a trade and it was suitable, it would have happened.
"But he's stayed and he is a very smart footballer, and he's finally starting to speak up in some of our footy sessions."
