Essendon coach John Worsfold has urged his players to have cooler heads when they take on GWS in Friday night’s clash at Metricon Stadium.

The Bombers beat Brisbane in the inside 50m count (42-37) and clearances (34-29) last week but were thumped by 63 points.

Worsfold has told his team to go harder at the contest in the wake of that loss but he also wants more poise when they have the ball in hand.

“We rushed with the ball,” he said.

“We felt the pressure from Brisbane sometimes more than the pressure that was actually there.

“We need to have more composure to work through those situations so we use the ball better and create better scoring opportunities.

“We won the inside 50 count against Brisbane but didn’t create good scoring opportunities.”

The Bombers will be boosted by the return of Irish defender Conor McKenna, who missed the loss to the Lions due to his struggles with homesickness.

Kyle Langford returns from suspension while Shaun McKernan and Matt Guelfi were also named.

Tom Bellchambers (managed), Martin Gleeson, Brayden Ham and Ned Cahill have been left out.

GWS made three changes, calling up debutant Xavier O’Halloran plus fit-again veterans Callan Ward and Shane Mumford to replace Toby Greene (hamstring), Matt de Boer (hamstring) and ruckman Sam Jacobs (rested).

Giants coach Leon Cameron is expecting Essendon to bounce back hard from their big loss to Brisbane.

“I know you always get judged on your last game, and they would have been disappointed about their last game,” Cameron said.

“We know at their very best they can play some great footy.

“They beat us last year at Marvel and they beat us the year before, so we’re under no illusions the game’s going to be red-hot on Friday night.

“It’s going to be a physical game, it’s going to be a quick game.”