LEADER Tom McDonald says he’s champing at the bit to play in back-to-back wins for the first time in his AFL career.

McDonald has yet to play in consecutive home and away wins for Melbourne  since he made his AFL debut under former coach Todd Viney in round 23, 2011. For the record, Melbourne’s most recent successive victories came in rounds 13 and 14 against Richmond and Fremantle respectively.

But with Melbourne entering round two favourites against Essendon at the MCG, McDonald said it was a great opportunity for the red and blue to notch up two in a row, even though the club is not taking the Bombers lightly.

“I’m just looking forward to the chance of getting two wins, as I haven’t done it and this is my sixth season,” McDonald said at AAMI Park on Friday morning.

“We definitely think we’ve got a chance to win this weekend.

“The boys are really confident about the way we’ve trained this week and they’ve addressed some of the problems that held us back last week.

“We weren’t playing fantastic footy, especially in the middle part of the game and we were lucky to get away with a win last week.”

McDonald said a match-up on key Essendon forward Joe Daniher was likely, but also with the assistance of the Melbourne defenders.

“We’re trying to be as flexible as possible, where Neville Jetta might have to play on Joe for a three minute patch,” he said.

“It’s probably not so much about the individual battle, as it will be with our four or five players.

“Joe’s very long. He’s got long arms and is about six foot seven [inches] and has a good jump at the ball, so if you can take away his jump at the footy, it goes a long way to stopping marking the ball.

“For a guy who is so big, he’s actually quite good at ground level as well. He’s a good player and he had a good game against us last year, so if he can limit his influence that’d be very handy for us.”

Meanwhile, McDonald praised the performance of teammate Clayton Oliver, who received the NAB AFL Rising Star nomination following his round one debut.

“He makes big tackles and his hands are unbelievable. He’s got really sharp hands in close, which gets us out of trouble, so I think our mix of midfielders is pretty good at the moment,” he said.

“He’s a good start, so let’s hope he can back it up.”