The Bombers scored a commanding 50-point win over Port Adelaide on Saturday afternoon; a six-goal-to-none final term sealed the deal.
Although the Power have struggled immensely in 2012, Hird said the win still said a lot for the Bombers, as the home side put up a huge fight for the first three quarters.
He said that when the game was played on their terms, most opposition sides wouldn't be able to match it with the Bombers.
""Today, when we played against a team that wanted to show that they stood for something and we stood with them for a half and then kicked on,"" he said.
""Once we started to get a little bit more control of the ball around the contest I think the game was able to be played on our terms.
""We know that when we play the way we want to play we can beat most teams.""
The win was slightly soured by yet another soft-tissue injury, this time a quad injury to Michael Hibberd.
Hibberd pulled up short when leading out of the forward line in the third quarter and ran straight to bench.
Although Hird admitted Hibberd was likely to miss a game, he stood by Essendon's fitness regime, claiming the short-term pain would ultimately lead to big gains.
""It's an ongoing debate with how hard you work your players, but the one thing we want to do with this group is get them to a point that when we get a chance … in finals, we can beat the best teams,"" he said.
""If you're not fit enough and if you're not strong enough you can't do it.
""Will it be this year or next year or the year after? I'm not sure. But we're going to continue to work hard and our players are going to continue to work hard so that when the opportunity comes we can take it.""
Hird said that, given the mid-week calf injury to star ruckman Patrick Ryder, the players would be eased into training next week.
""As has happened with Paddy [Ryder] during the week, he had nothing after the game [against St Kilda], it's just come on slowly during the week,"" he said.
