Essendon coach James Hird praised his team's developing maturity after they overcame a dreadful start to defeat the West Coast Eagles by 16 points at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

The Bombers were dominated by the Eagles in contested possession and clearances throughout the opening stages of the game, and fell to a 21-point deficit early in the second quarter.

""It was a great effort by the boys to fight back,"" Hird said post-match.

""All the indicators that we have were terrible in the first half.

""We were looking at those going, 'well, the game's not going our way,"" he said. 

""The boys needed to fight back in the areas that we were losing it and they did, and I think that shows great character.""

The match shaped as a contest between two of the league's rising teams, with both playing much-improved football after managing only 11 wins between them last season.

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Hird said after Sunday's clash, both sides could feel satisfied that they're on a path to success.

""I think that game should give both sides great confidence,"" he said.

""Both sides played some really hard, contested football, and very different to the way they probably played last year.""

""Our boys feel pretty good about themselves after winning that game, there's no doubt.""

Hird said despite the impressive wins in the last fortnight, he remained focused on the team's mantra of improvement and consistency.

""It's a boring line, but we do want to keep improving, and today was another step of that improvement."" 

""We handled a different team and a different set-up to what we've probably seen before, and they beat us early and we were able to get on top of them after a while,"" he said.

""I think that was a really good sign.""

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