ESSENDON coach Matthew Knights has highlighted the importance of his side finishing the 2008 season on a high note after the team dropped its second consecutive game on Saturday afternoon.

The Bombers had won six out of seven games before losses to West Coast and now Adelaide, but Knights said it was imperative the Bombers run out the season well after taking a big step forward this year.

"It's vital to finish with good energy and enthusiasm and to play strong football. It's really important," he said, after the 56-point loss at Telstra Dome.

"We've just got to make sure we stand strong now and finish off the final two weeks and do our club proud.

"We're not going to make the eight so it's important we play well and try and pick up one of two games in the last two."

Knights lamented a "lack of enthusiasm" in the first quarter as the reason behind the loss to the Crows, and said Essendon’s starts are an area than must be addressed ahead of the Western Bulldogs clash this Friday night.

"I was pretty disappointed in our first 10-15 minutes. I didn't think we were playing team orientated football, we weren't getting to the contest quick enough and Adelaide was beating us to the punch," he said.

"Their initiative was better and they were also good with their tackling and harassment.

"They really didn't give us much room to move, and I thought the first 10 minutes really set the scene for the rest of the day."

Essendon suffered more injuries on Saturday with Courtenay Dempsey (broken leg), Henry Slattery (adductor), Dustin Fletcher (groin) and David Hille (hand) all becoming casualties. Youngster Heath Hocking was a late withdrawal with a leg injury.

"We just can't keep our young people on the park this year, and it's frustrating. Some of them are soft tissues, but others are innocuous clashes or shoulders or knee or the odd stress fracture," Knights said.

"In one aspect, we're 12 months behind [with their development], but on another, if you play a lot when you're 18, 19, 20, you can potentially play a lot of hard footy early in your career and there might be some fatigue factor there.

"The positive I'm looking at is that some of our 18-20-year-old players haven't played a lot of footy, but that might hold them in good stead long term."