Essendon VFL may have the bye this weekend, but the hard work is set to continue.

Coach Matthew Egan will put the Bombers not travelling to Adelaide and the VFL listed players who are not playing with their local sides, through an intense session as the side prepares for the final four games of the home and away season.

“It just gives us a week to plan and to train really hard, we are going to have a really big session Saturday so it’s important we don’t switch off and purely rest,” Egan said.

“It’s really important that we start to gather some form and momentum and that comes with training and working on our games and not dropping off because there are four big games coming up.”

Following this weekend’s bye Essendon will face the Scorpions under lights at Casey Fields next Saturday.

The Bombers then face the current ladder leaders Williamstown, North Ballarat and the Northern Blues in their attempt to secure a berth in this year’s finals campaign.

Egan said the coaching group wasn’t stretching their attention beyond Melbourne’s VFL affiliate.

“I know we are talking about the last four games but once the weekend is over we will be focusing just on Casey,” he said.

“They are a really good team we got close to them last time, they have some really good half backs that join in attack really well and good inside mids.

“Their style of play will be a similar brand to Melbourne, contested and get the ball outside pretty well and they gather a lot of possessions. No doubt we will have to try and limit that.”

Essendon and Casey met in round four at Windy Hill, with the Scorpions registering a 17-point victory.

The eighth placed Bombers sit four points and percentage clear of the Northern Blues in ninth.

The Blues have one bye to come and games against Werribee, Richmond, Williamstown and the Bombers in the final round of the season. 

Essendon will look to bounce back immediately from their 78-point loss to Geelong last week.

Egan said the Cats were far too good on the day.

“They’re a very good team, they have been playing some great footy,” he said.

“We learnt we have to be able to transition both ways they got us in transition way to easily and most of our game we struggled to be honest.

“We had a really good meeting with the VFL boys Wednesday night, we need to tidy some things up because we have got a big run coming home obviously there is some teams chasing us really hard.

“We have had some wins where we have probably just got over the line so it’s important now that we start to gather some form and hopefully take it into the back half of the year.”