Essendon midfielder Dyson Heppell believes the Bombers can play finals this season as the club looks to improve from a horror end to the 2012 season.

The Bombers lost their last seven games of the home and away season dropping to eleventh position on the ladder and missing a finals berth.

“It is certainly a goal to make the eight this year and everyone is striving for the same goal,” Heppell said.

Despite a dreaded injury run throughout 2012, Heppell is confident the pre-season campaign the team is currently undertaking will have them on the right path for future success.

“We are working on a few things that went wrong last year and a bit of tinkering to the pre-season program this year has allowed us to stay injury free.”

“We are just trying to get everyone onto the park leading into the season.”

Essendon players are currently on a two week break from training and will return in early January ahead of the NAB Cup competition.

“We will stick to the program from the club while we are away,” Heppell said.

“A lot of the couple of weeks will be based around recovery so just trying to get the body fresh and ready to go for a big four weeks in January.”