After a after a hard fought 28-point win over the Suns, Jordan Roughead says the team will receive a confidence boost heading into Sunday’s match against Essendon.

“[It] feels great mate, you’ve got to enjoy every win that you get,” Roughead said.

“It’s a tough old caper, so to come up here and get the four points and head back to Melbourne in a positive mind frame means the world to us.”

With the late withdrawal of captain Ryan Griffen, Roughead enjoyed watching his young teammates step up when the game needed it.

“[It’s] obviously disappointing to lose a key player but all the boys that are stepping up at the moment have been sensational,” he said.

“It’s great to have the VFL boys playing great footy as well, because it shows that we’ve got some good depth and boys can step up to the AFL level and compete really well.”

The Bulldogs have enjoyed a more settled back six after the mid-season bye and Roughead said the chemistry among the group is showing on field. 

“I think we [defenders] did our job pretty well – let them off the chain a couple of times and they got a couple of easy goals,” he said.

“But defensively we’ve been pretty solid as a group for the last six weeks and we are doing a lot of things right.

“I think it was another step in the right direction tonight and now we look to back it up again against the Dons next week.”