Essendon Captain Dyson Heppell said every player is invested in playing their role for the team and producing exciting football.

The Bombers will head to Sydney to take on GWS in a Saturday night blockbuster at Spotless Stadium.

“I think it’s just going into the game and boys buying into playing their role,” Heppell said.

“We had a really clear focus as you would have seen on pressure and team defence and that really stood out.

“You go into games trying your heart out every week and it’s not a lack of effort but a real desire and to want to play your role and just really buying into selfless team footy and I think really stood out on the weekend.

“We are hoping to keep that consistent from now on in and going into games with real clarity on what it looks like and see what we can produce.”

Whilst reports emerged that Heppell had changed his leadership style after a four game losing streak, he insisted that wasn’t the case.

“I didn’t do a lot different in the way I go about my leadership but I gave the young guys in the Jack Jones academy (first to third year players) a bit of a pump up in the way they have been going about their footy and that they have been fantastic and bringing real energy into the footy club,” Heppell said.

“If you had of walked into the footy club in the last 5 weeks, you wouldn’t have known the situation we were in because the vibe was fantastic and are continuing to work and improve in our game but it just wasn’t coming out on the weekend.

“I had full confidence every week putting the work in and knowing it would turn around eventually and hoping we can now keep it consistent from here on in.”

Although the Bombers are heading into round 10 with three wins, Heppell remains confident that the player’s effort to play their role and consistency would prevail for the remainder of the season.

“It’s purely effort and wanting to stick to structures and focus on a couple of key points that make your game the best for the team,” Heppell said.

“It’s not about running more kilometres or working harder, it’s buying into your role for the team and I think we are very clear on that and we have set the standard now and we can’t go back on that.

“We are really clear on what it looks like now and let’s hope we don’t let ourselves down this weekend but I think we will produce some really good footy for the remainder of the year.

“Every game is going to be a tough game and we certainly don’t think we are out of it this year with plenty of footy left to play and we will be forging to win as many games as we can.

“It was a finals like intensity I think you could say and that’s a great brand of footy to be a part of, it was a really fun and enjoyable game to play and it was a bit of reward for effort over the last month or so.”