Essendon’s wins in recent weeks are a sign of the growing maturity within the playing group, according to Brendon Goddard.

The Bombers have won four of their last five matches.

The most recent victories against North Melbourne and Carlton have required last quarter surges after being outplayed for periods of the match.

“That’s a sign of maturity,” Goddard told RSN.

“In the last three or four years I don’t think we would have won those games.

“The ability good teams have is to win when they’re not playing well, because the reality is your performances and your mental and physical state will ebb and flow throughout the year.

“You can only really maintain that for about a five or six week period, then you will have a lull. 

“But it’s about how low those lulls are.”

The Bombers are in eighth spot on the ladder ahead of a clash with Adelaide on Saturday night.

The Crows are six points clear on top and have lost four games this season.

“They deserve to be earmarked or touted as the best team at the minute,” Goddard said.

“They’re sitting on top of the ladder, they’ve been pretty convincing.

"They’ve have their lulls but their best is better than most.”

Victory against the Crows would see the Bombers move one step closer to qualifying for their first finals series since 2014.

“It’s good thinking about finals again … it’s good just thinking about normal football things again rather than having the burden we had,” Goddard said.

“It feels like it has been a while since we’ve been in this position and now come the pointy end of the season, we’re in contention.

“We know the reality of the situation but I think we know the process we need to go through to get to where we want to go.”