ESSENDON coach James Hird will drop at least three players from his side after the Bombers' 110-point shellacking by St Kilda last week.

In addition to the withdrawal of captain Jobe Watson and Adam Cooney with injury, Hird said another "three or four" players would miss out on playing the Demons due to poor form.

He forecast at least 10 - and as many as 12 - players with fewer than 50 games would face the Demons, with Jayden Laverde, the club's second pick at last year's NAB AFL Draft, set to debut.

Hird said he convened a heart-to-heart talk with his playing group on Monday in an effort to leave behind the massive loss to the Saints.

The fourth-year coach said he challenged his players to explain the performance, leaving nothing off the table.

"We spoke very openly on Monday; if there are issues we want to know about them," he said.

"I'm not going to go into what that feedback was, because it was a very private discussion between the players and the coaches.

"But it was a great discussion and, hopefully out of that, we will perform better.

"I've no doubt we'll get a much better effort than we had last week. I can't see that happening again."

Meanwhile, Essendon coaching great Kevin Sheedy has given Hird a stirring reminder of what is possible with the right attitude.

With Hird's side slumping to their worst loss to St Kilda last week, their fifth straight defeat, and facing the rest of the season without Watson, Sheedy's dip into the Bombers' history book was timely.

Seated alongside Hird and former Bomber Adam Ramanauskas, Sheedy recalled one of the worst days of his coaching career: August 1, 1992.

"We lost by 26 goals," Sheedy began.

"(Like on Sunday), teams just play a game they wish they hadn't.

"We got smashed by Hawthorn and, the next week, we played Melbourne and we won."

The 160-point loss to the Hawks was followed by a 32-point victory over the Demons, which remains the Bombers' best form reversal to this day.

Even more significantly, into the side to play the Demons came second-gamer Hird and Mark Mercuri for his third AFL match.

"Out of a negative ... we find a champion," he said.

"There will be a lot of positives to come out of this, I believe, in the end."

While the core of that 1992 team would form the 'Baby Bombers' that would storm to the 1993 premiership, Hird would probably settle for a few more wins this season.