Essendon captain Jobe Watson says the Bombers’ ability to execute their game-plan was the most satisfying aspect of the big win over Carlton.

Ahead of their annual Anzac Day AFL clash with Collingwood, Watson said the Bombers would need to repeat the performance to keep their unbeaten status intact.

“We were really confident in the work we’d done during the week and it was just up to the players to execute the game-plan that those guys had put in place,” Watson said on Monday.

“From the players’ make-up and mental side, it was really pleasing to see that game-plan being executed.”

He rated Collingwood’s round-one match against Hawthorn as the benchmark game of the season.

“I don’t think you read too much into what happened a couple of weeks ago,” he said of the Magpies’ heavy loss to the Blues in round three.

“They’re of a high quality and Anzac Day brings out the best in both teams.”

A hamstring injury to Michael Hurley was the only blight on the five-goal win over the Blues, with the key forward due to have a scan on Tuesday.

Watson said the club had rested players from the VFL on the weekend as insurance for the Magpies game.

Kyle Reimers, Henry Slattery, Luke Davis and rookie Mark Baguley were all putting their hand up for selection while promising midfielder Travis Colyer could make his first appearance of the year after recovering from a broken thumb.

“There’s five guys who could come in fresh and that’s going to be really important,” Watson said.

Watson said there hadn’t really been time to refect on the club’s best start to a season since 2000.

“Obviously the guys are really happy and when you’re winning games it’s a lot better environment to be around,” Watson said.

“But, as ‘Hurls’ (Michael Hurley) touched on last week, we weren’t playing great footy but we were grinding wins out.

“But, by circumstance, we don’t have a lot of time to reflect on our last game.

“I think after Wednesday’s game we will take some time to reflect on how we’ve gone in the first five rounds.”