Hird confident of turn around in form
Essendon coach James Hird is adamant his side can re-discover its form before the finals, despite slumping to its fourth loss on the trot.
The Bombers were once again trounced by over 40 points, this time by North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
Rubbing salt into the wounds was the news Dyson Heppell may have suffered a stress fracture in his foot.
The midfielder was subbed out of the game at the two-minute mark of the second quarter.
"He had a bit of soreness in a tendon on his foot during the week, which wasn't too bad," Hird said on Saturday.
"That's just got sorer and sorer, and the doctor was concerned that there might be a small crack there.
"He doesn't think it's that, but we sort of took him off just to make sure that it wasn't that crack, and if it was, it didn't make it worse."
The Bombers were blown away in the third quarter, with the Roos kicking six goals to two.
They now face Carlton and Richmond in the final two rounds of the season.
While the supplements saga continues to distract the team, Hird believes they still have time to find form before the first week of the finals.
"People would say, 'why are you confident?' because we don't look like we're playing that well, and we haven't for the last four weeks," Hird said.
"We believe that with what happened during the week with the players being cleared and they've got some confidence.
"You could see the spark in their eyes had come back. You could see they were looking forward to playing today, which maybe they hadn't the last couple of weeks.
"I think that announcement on Tuesday may help them, not so much this week, but as the weeks go on. We're confident we can give a good showing in September."
Michael Hurley, David Myers and Patrick Ryder are available to return next week, while Hird says David Hille will also come into contention.