Rather, McVeigh said his side’s wins against St Kilda, Richmond and the Western Bulldogs were the result of the players’ better execution of the same tactics that coach Matthew Knights had employed since he took the helm in late 2007.
“It’s a game plan that’s very taxing and it’s a fast-flowing sort of game. It lacked defence at times; not through the way it was set up but through our effort,” he said from Moore Park in Sydney on Wednesday.
“The whole group had to lift in a defensive sort of manner. Nothing’s changed with our structure.
“We’re sticking to it, it’s a great game plan but we just need to keep up that aggressive style of physicality and tackling and everything else works from there.”
McVeigh said Essendon’s limp effort against Collingwood on Anzac Day, when it conceded the first seven goals of the game, was a catalyst for change.
“We had to knuckle down and iron out a few areas that we’ve identified that were weak points. We’ve tried to shore those up as quickly as possible,” he said.
“We’ve still got a long way to go but I think physically, our game has got better in terms of our hardness at the footy and it has to be first-rate this weekend against the Swans.”
The Bombers will take to the SCG on Sunday with confidence gleaned not just from their past three wins, but also their most recent visit to the ground when they defeated the Swans by 35 points in round 15, 2009.
However, McVeigh said Essendon couldn’t afford to take the home side lightly, despite its run of four straight losses since topping the ladder after round six.
“The exciting part about this week’s game is that it’s between two clubs who are in similar positions on the ladder, fighting to stay in the eight,” he said.
“We’re coming off three really good wins, the Swans probably off three or four bad losses. We respect their club immensely as a group and we understand coming to the SCG, how hard they do play.
“There’s a fair rivalry between the two clubs. There have been some close games between the two and that probably won’t change on the weekend.”
In the wake of Team GWS announcing its first signings, including NRL convert Israel Folau, McVeigh was asked whether his former coach Kevin Sheedy had made contact about a move north for the 18th club’s 2012 debut.
“Geez, I’ll be 30 or 31,” he said.
“I speak to Sheeds regularly. We’ve kept in contact and he was a great mentor of mine. I played under him for 11 years and there’s a good bond and relationship there.
“I’m out of contract at the end of the year with Essendon and we’ll see what happens from there. At the moment, I’ve got to play good footy to be able to keep up with our team that’s developing into something that’s very exciting.”
