The Essendon VFL side will head into the opening round of the season with a focus on continuing the consistency displayed in the final practice match of their pre-season campaign.

The Bombers enter their season opener against Sandringham on the back of a comprehensive win over Richmond last week and Coach Paul Corrigan is hoping the good form continues.

“When you look at the Richmond game we played last week, we were really consistent the whole game,” Corrigan said.

“If we can have really good consistency across the four quarters, win or lose, I’ll be really happy.

“Obviously we go out there to win the game but the effort is probably the main focus and being able to maintain that for the whole game.

“We need to keep improving with all the principles we want to put in place through our defence, our contest and also our ball movement.”

With 16 AFL listed players selected and five players from the VFL list set to play their first game in the red and black, Essendon has named a strong line-up for the clash with the Zebras.

“There is a fair contingent of AFL players coming back who have been in really good form throughout the pre-season,” Corrigan said.

“From a VFL perspective, all the guys that we’ve selected, I hope they really perform well. I’m expecting strong performances from all of those guys.

“I think everyone is excited to hit the season running. I guess when you’re playing for premiership points it’s a lot different than practice matches, so we are all looking forward to getting into the competition.”

Sandringham is coming off a finals appearance last season, but Corrigan said the 2017 form line would take some time to take shape.

“It’s always really tough to know were a side is at - we probably don’t get a real gauge of the VFL until probably round three or four,” he said.

“A lot can change when you’re playing against an AFL aligned club, depending on what their list is like and how many AFL guys they have coming back.

“Sandringham has been pretty strong in recent years. I expect them to be tough. St Kilda’s list is pretty healthy so I think they will be a strong contender this year.”