Nathan Buckley's decision to hand Mason Cox an Anzac Day debut has all the hallmarks of a Kevin Sheedy tactic, says Essendon great Matthew Lloyd.

Sheedy, whose foresight led to the first of the traditional matches between Collingwood and the Bombers 21 years ago, spoke to the Dons on Friday about the importance of the day.

Cox will become the 11th player to make his AFL debut in the biggest game of the home-and-away season. Coincidentally another who did so was Magpies spearhead Travis Cloke, whose place in the Pies' side was taken by Cox as Cloke spent Sunday in the VFL.

Sheedy is renowned for eschewing orthodoxy, leading Lloyd to quip that the four-time premiership coach would have picked the 211 centimetre Texan if he had been coaching the Pies. "It's a selection that Sheedy would do, bringing in someone like Cox on Anzac Day," Lloyd said on Sunday.

Lloyd added that he would not have been as audacious as Buckley, suggesting that Cloke should have been given another chance to reverse his form slump and help Collingwood win their second game of the season.

"It's a bold call from Buckley to drop Cloke for this. I would have played Travis against the Bombers, and looked for a way to try to play him into some form.

"It'll just be interesting to see how [Cox] handles the intensity of an AFL match on a day like Anzac Day."

Former Pies captain Nick Maxwell disagreed with Lloyd, arguing that Buckley had made the right call in axing Cloke, who has kicked just five goals over the first four rounds. "He had a chance in the first four weeks and has really struggled. He needs to get his confidence back," Maxwell told Channel Seven on Sunday.

In the VFL, Cloke kicked two goals from five disposals in a heavy loss to the Bombers at Victoria Park.

While Collingwood enter Monday's match as favourites, the Bombers' odds hover around $3.50 across corporate bookmakers, considerably shorter than many would have predicted when the Court of Arbitration for Sport suspended 12 of their most experienced players in January.

Lloyd had forecast a gloomy season for his former club, but praised coach John Worsfold for helping to defy expectations.

"I never thought they'd be as competitive as they've been over the first four rounds. Just to lose the quality of players that they lost, it's like the equivalent of Richmond losing [Alex] Rance, [Jack] Riewoldt, [Dustin] Martin, Trent [Cotchin], if you look at [Dyson] Heppell, [Michael] Hurley, [Jobe] Watson, [Cale] Hooker.

"I just couldn't see them being competitive losing players like that. But full credit obviously to John Worsfold, what he's been able to do. They don't try and just defend, and protect the scoreboard. They attack. Their biggest weakness is if Joe Daniher can't score, but aside from that they're pretty competitive in every area."

Essendon chief executive Xavier Campbell agreed that Worsfold had done a sterling job to pull the Bombers (1-3) together. "I certainly commend John and the coaching group, and all of the football department around the work that they've done to get this team to a position where they're playing good football."

He said it was a privilege to play on Anzac Day. "We're really excited to play on such an important day. The importance of the day's not lost on our football club.

"I think it's now become an important part of Anzac Day. Of course it's nowhere near as important as the march or the ceremony in the morning, and that will always be at the forefront of Anzac Day. But football is a great vehicle for creating awareness."