A rich run of form won’t hasten Adam Cooney’s decision on his playing future beyond 2016.

The Brownlow medal winning midfielder is averaging 24 possessions a game over the last five weeks.

In his 13th AFL season, Cooney wants to show he can still perform at a high level.

“There is still a lot to work on personally, for me, it’s about proving I can still play great footy at this level and proving to Essendon supporters and coaches that hopefully I’m a welcome addition to the Club still,” Cooney said. 

“The motivation is still there and watching the young guys develops helps as well.”

Ankle surgery impacted Cooney’s pre-season, but the 30 year old is pleased with the way he was able to steadily increase his fitness over the summer.

“It’s been a good solid build in my pre-season, I didn’t overdo it before Christmas,” Cooney said.

“I had ankle surgery late in the season (2015) – I was coming off that so it’s been a good build, I’m feeling pretty fit at the moment.

“I’m doing a lot of recovery between games – two six day breaks in a row – so a light week for me this week.  I’ve been managing it well with the fitness staff.”

Form will be a key factor when Cooney decides his playing future.

“I would have to weigh that up at the end of the year, certainly my form has been building,” he said. 

“I’d still want to be playing really good footy towards the end of the year to probably think about playing on next year." 

The Bombers have one win from their first six matches.

Cooney expects the team to improve throughout the course of the season, but acknowledges it is still looking to produce a full four-quarter performance.

“We sort of have those lapses for a quarter and a half where we haven’t played great footy so we haven’t really strung together a four quarter performance, which is a little bit disappointing,” Cooney said. 

“We matched it with Geelong for three quarters then dropped off. 

“Port Adelaide we got outscored pretty heavily in the first quarter.

“That’ll come with time and the group working together and I think the second half of the year we’ll play a little bit more consistent footy.”