Essendon Coach James Hird has echoed the sentiments of his senior players in expressing disappointment at a lack of effort and intensity in the loss to St Kilda.

The Bombers were confident after an impressive first half against Hawthorn and a strong week on the training track.

But St Kilda got on top early and were never headed.

“Leading into today’s game, we thought we trained well,” Hird said.

“Our effort and intensity was poor.

“We failed to compete and that was a disappointing thing.”

The Saints blew the Bombers away in the second half kicking 15 goals to  three.

Hird said their ability to move the ball cleanly and break off the lines put significant  pressure on the Bombers’ defence.

“St. Kilda were the better team and we played extremely poorly,” Hird said.

“We stopped playing, we actually stopped playing today.

“That’s actually concerning when guys go into themselves and stop playing.”

In a day with very few highlights Dyson Heppell was a standout for the Bombers.

Relentless in his efforts to contest for the ball, the midfielder collected 32 disposals, laid six tackles and kicked two handy goals.

“Hepp is just a star person,” said Hird

“He was disappointed in his game last week so we sat down and went through a lot of his game… and looked for where he can improve.

“He’s honest and he's hard and he's got enough talent.”

Cale Hooker also showed great versatility playing forward in the absence of Jake Carlisle.

He kicked three goals and proved to be a solid target.

However, given the size of the loss, Hird knows external pressure in inevitable.

“When you’ve won four and lost nine the pressure comes on,” said Hird

“When you play as badly as we did, and you don’t perform, you have to go back to one simple principle and that’s hard work.

“You’ve got to work as hard as you can and focus on the essential part of your game.”

The Bombers face Melbourne next week in the 10^th annual ‘Clash for Cancer’ match.