Essendon players were greeted with cloudless skies and a warm 25 degrees when they arrived in Adelaide at noon today for their semi-final showdown with Port Adelaide. But the Bombers are in anything but holiday mode with Kevin Sheedy telling a packed press conference his side was switched on and ready to tackle a Port Adelaide side that suddenly finds itself under enormous pressure. Sheedy pinpointed the midfield and the key to tonight's match.

""Port has some excellent midfielders and we need to play well in there - Francou, Stevens, Carr and Roger James are very good players. But I think we are playing much better in that area. Paul Salmon has been very good - he has got his hands on the footy and given our on-ballers a chance,"" Sheedy said.

Sheedy said he hadn't been playing mind games with Port Adelaide in the lead up to the match when he reffered to the fact that they are now in a cut-throat final. ""I was just answering the questions put to me. If I was Mark Williams I would be pretty angry about the position they are in. I was simply pointing out that they are in exactly the same boat as us.""

Sheedy said the loss of Fletcher was obviously a blow the Bombers. ""Of course we would rather have him out there but the fact is that he won't be and we need to get on with life. Port Adelaide generally doesn't go that tall in front of goal so he might not be as bigger loss as he would be against some other teams,"" Sheedy said. He would not answer questions regarding the likelihood of Matthew Lloyd playing. ""You will know our side when it runs out,"" he said.

The Essendon players had lunch followed by a team meeting. The team bus is departing for Football Park at 4.40pm.