Essendon coach James Hird has described Friday night's upset33-point loss to Melbourne as a ""reality check"" for his developingteam.

Hird enjoyed a smooth start to his coaching career, guidingthe Bombers to five wins and a draw from his first eight matches in charge.

But injuries to key players and disappointing losses toRichmond and now the Demons in consecutive matches have prompted Hird to try totemper supporters' expectations.

""As disappointing as today is, I think it's a realitycheck for everyone that the Essendon Football Club's got a lot of work to doand a lot of improvement in all areas,"" Hird said post-match.

""We've always talked about this year as being aboutimprovement and development for the next year and two years.""

""Today we didn't improve, and that's the result youget,"" he said.

Hird felt his team was beaten in a number of areas by thefired-up Demons, who were stung into action this week after criticism of theirattack on the ball in last Friday night's loss to Carlton.

The first-year coach was critical of his team's delivery ofthe ball inside 50 – it had 13 more entries than Melbourne but kicked fivefewer goals – was disappointed to lose the contested possession count(133-148), and felt his players didn't take the game on as well as theirMelbourne opponents.

""I think that when the game wasn't going our way weprobably went into our shells a little bit and were second to the ball,""he said.

""So that's the disappointing part from our point ofview.""

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The Bombers entered the match without Jobe Watson andversatile key forward/back Michael Hurley, plus a long list of others.

Hird admitted that injuries made the task more difficult forhis team, but said it was no excuse for not winning.

""Not having Jobe, [Heath] Hocking, Hurley, [Tayte]Pears, and also [Jason] Winderlich and [Courtenay] Dempsey doesn't help, butthe players that are out there I think are good enough to play better than thatand win games of football,"" he said.

""Jobe's a very good player, and also his leadership'svery important, so you put him into the picture and it's much better.""

""But we're not going to have Jobe every week,"" he said.

""We're developing a side that is very good with Jobe,and good without him as well.""

Hird said his experience infootball told him his dream start as a coach would not last all year.

The challenge for his players now is to regain its earlyseason touch in a hurry.

""Having been in football a long time, there's periodsthroughout every season that you don't play as well as you'd like and your formis down a bit, and I think that the really good sides seem to scratch out aresult when they're not playing well, and we're not able to do that at themoment,"" Hird said.

""So we would hope that we'll get through this leanpatch as quickly as possible and come back in some good form.""

That quest is near-certain to receive a big boost againstFremantle next week, with Hird guaranteeing Hurley would return from his footinjury and Watson from his torn hamstring.

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