Essendon Coach James Hird says there is a sense of a ‘new beginning’ as the Bombers prepare to take on Sydney in Round One.

Most of Essendon’s selected side sat out the NAB Challenge.

Hird is uncertain if that will impact on the how the players perform late in the match against the Swans.

“We’re not absolutely sure they’ll get through the 120 minutes but I think most players - even if they’ve played two or three practice games - realise that this is different,” Hird said.

“The 120 minutes at full, round one intensity always seems to be the hardest game of the year. 

“We think we’ve trained very hard.  We think we’ve got the work into them.” 

Jake Carlisle was named at fullback, but how the side lines up won’t be finalised until match-day. 

“We’re looking forward to having our best players in their best positions.  Things will change a little bit, they do change every year,” Hird said.

“Obviously they’ve got some reasonably good tall forwards the Sydney Swans.”

One of those tall forwards is Lance Franklin.

He’s kicked 55 goals in 11 games against the Bombers. 

“Buddy’s obviously an extremely good player. He’s hard to play on because of his athleticism and his good football brain. 

“We’ve got our ideas on how to stop him but they haven’t worked in the past so we’ll change a little bit and see what happens,” Hird said.