Essendon coach James Hird says his team’s poor performance in the second half of the season must be the catalyst for them becoming more resilient in 2013. 

The Bombers lost their sixth game in a row onFriday night against Richmond at the MCG ending their chances of playing inthis year’s final series.

Hird knows his side has a lot of workto do to regain the respect of the competition next season.

“Until we can prove that we can play awhole season I don’t think we are going to get a hell of a lot of respect fromthe AFL,” Hird told ABC radio.

“It has to sit in our guts for the wholesummer, then we need to come out and perform well next year and put a full yearon the board.

“The AFL season is not easy, the best teamfor the whole year and the most resilient team for the whole year becomes thebest team.”

The Bombers coach said all fans had theright to be ‘angry’ at the way the team had fallen away in the second half ofthe season.

“I know our supporters are very upset andthey have every right to be upset and they should be angry at the way thingsare going,” he said.

“Our players are really hurting as well, we are in a position where we can dosomething about it so this week we need to get out on the track then put in aperformance we can all be proud of.”

Midfielder Ben Howlett is a chance toreturn from a hamstring injury for the final round clash against Collingwood atthe MCG on Saturday night.