Essendon midfielder Dyson Heppell is confident the Bombers have the firepower to win Sunday's pivotal AFL clash with Collingwood, despite Brendon Goddard's suspension.
Acting skipper Goddard will serve a one-match ban for a bump on Port Adelaide's Kane Cornes.
Essendon's 2013 club champion had been leading the club in fine style in the absence of injured captain and Brownlow Medallist Jobe Watson.
Heppell says the Bombers have the playing depth to cover for Goddard, although the ex-Saint's on-field leadership will be missed.
"Losing (Goddard) is a massive loss for the club," Heppell said on Wednesday.
"He's been in fantastic form."
Heppell is averaging 28 possessions and is enjoying another fine season as the 22-year-old shoots for a third successive top-three finish in Essendon's best-and-fairest award.
"I don't feel I need to do anything special," Heppell said.
"We've got a good group of core midfielders that can take on the challenge.
"We lose that real leadership around the ball and it's more so just setting up structurally.
"I think we've got some great players coming through and someone else will stand up."
Essendon great Tim Watson, Jobe's father, said Cornes had a reputation of staging for free kicks.
Watson said he was staggered at Goddard's suspension.
"Not being disrespectful to Kane Cornes, because he's a fine player, but he does have a reputation in the competition for falling over more often than a one-legged drunk in a hurricane and it doesn't take a lot of force for him to go to ground and he did that on Saturday night," Watson said in the Herald Sun newspaper.
"It is something he really needs to take out of his game."
Last week's victory over Port leaves 10th-placed Essendon with an 8-7 win-loss record, narrowly trailing sixth-placed Collingwood who are 9-6.
Heppell says the Bombers are excited by the prospect of taking on Collingwood in a classic "eight-point" contest between two sides vying for a top-eight finish.
"You certainly have a look where we are in the scheme of things and there's a group of four or five teams that are still a realistic chance, so it would be good to stitch them up," Heppell told the AFL's website.
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