Essendon overcame a disappointing fortnight in its impressive defeat of Port Adelaide last week and captain Dyson Heppell says staying level-headed was a key factor in the form turnaround.

The Bombers had suffered successive disappointing defeats to Fremantle and the Western Bulldogs, and Heppell said there was no need for panic within the club.

“I think it’s just keeping things level, not wavering throughout the week on your feedback and your meetings and the way you go about your training, it’s just keeping that consistent level,” Heppell said on Thursday.

“We’ve addressed some issues that came out of our rounds two and three and I think we put that into play on the weekend and hopefully we can continue forward next week.

“We had some honest conversations and just gave feedback like we would any other week and I think it was just getting real clarity on some simple things that we were able to do, it was good.”

Heppell said reaching the side’s full potential would take patience, especially in the league’s competitive modern landscape.

“That’s the beauty of sport, it’s a fluctuation week to week and you just try and level out that consistency.

“I think if we can bridge the gap from our best to our worst we’re going to be a really strong side, so we’re building towards that.

“We’ve brought in three new players in the trade period and you’re building that chemistry with a new-look outfit, so that’s going to take time.”

The skipper said the results in rounds two and three were far from disasters in hindsight.

“The Bulldogs beat us, they played fantastic footy, (then) they nearly stitched up a great side in Sydney on the weekend, so they’re in good form,” he said.

“Playing over in Perth is never an easy feat, we played poorly (and) we were within three or four goals, so you can look at the positive side of things there as well.

“If we play consistent footy for most of the day, we’re going to go a good show to winning.”

Essendon just reached 70,000 members for the first time in the club’s history and Heppell said the achievement is “enormous” and was hopeful the side could encourage more fans to sign up.

“I think if we can put some more good performances together we should keep charging, so it’s amazing to have 70,000 members and their support is huge.”

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