ESSENDON managed to turn its form around with a win against Port Adelaide last Sunday after a dismal couple of weeks, dropping games to Fremantle and the Western Bulldogs.

The Bombers had five areas they needed to show vast improvements in to get back on the right track: dominate uncontested possession, take intercept marks, clean up their ball use transitioning from the defensive 50, winning clearances around the ground and, lastly, apply forward pressure.

Structural changes were put in place. Cale Hooker moved back to defence, and Jake Stringer spent more time as a forward. Matt Guelfi made his debut, replacing the suspended Conor McKenna.

After allowing the Bulldogs to have 101 more uncontested possessions in round three, the game plan had clearly been reset. The Bombers managed to dominate possession against the Power early, with 13 extra uncontested disposals and 11 extra contested possessions at quarter-time.

The tone was set early, with Hooker launching a handball chain in the first play of the day to get the Bombers a goal. It was endemic of the way the rest of the game would be played, with an emphasis on quick spreading and maintaining control of the football.

It was a stark change in play from the previous week. Against the Bulldogs, the Bombers could not string together multiple passes in a row out of their backline against the zone. It took too long for the Bombers to make decisions, and when they were made, they were executed poorly.

The move to put Hooker in the backline helped the rest of the defensive structure enormously early against the Power. Kick-outs were easier with an additional target, but more importantly, Michael Hurley and Dyson Heppell were able to roam freely across half-back to take intercept marks. Hurley ended the day with 15 marks.

It was reminiscent of the round one clash against Adelaide, where Essendon's midfielders laid strong tackles around contests to force the opposition to scramble long kicks forward, allowing the half-backs to clean up in the air.

With those intercepts came the launches from half-back, where Andrew McGrath was critical with his composure. In the play below, Jack Watts fumbles a crucial mark, giving Mark Baguley and Hooker enough time to get in position. After some dicey handball work in the backline, McGrath cuts through two forwards and splits the game open with a kick into the centre, before running on for the one-two pass and finding Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti on the half-forward flank.

The Bombers were incapable of doing that against the Dogs because of sloppy ball use, but they certainly tightened it up against the Power. Up until round four, the Bombers had been struggling around stoppages. Their around-the-ground stoppage clearance differential was at minus-13. In the first quarter against the Power, they led that stat 11-3. They also kicked 3.2 in the first quarter from stoppages, with players like Guelfi and Josh Green coming across and getting into dangerous positions despite starting 5-10 metres away from the contest.

More importantly, it was the structural change around the stoppages that ensured the Bombers could have a sniff. The Bombers generally like to have Devon Smith or Zach Merrett as the sweeper without an opponent at centre bounces. The Bombers were plus-11 in centre clearance differential coming into the game, and having the free sweeper often led to quality entries into the forward 50, particularly in round one against the Crows.

However, the Bombers manned up Ollie Wines and Tom Rockliff tightly. Smith and Merrett gathered just two centre clearances between them and five clearances all up, yet they racked up 11 and eight tackles respectively.

Wines and Robbie Gray got off the leash, and the Bombers conceded the centre clearances. Yet the pressure around stoppages forced the Power to go for long bombs forward, playing right into the hands of Hurley and co. in the air.

The forward line was far more cohesive as well. James Stewart and Stringer managed seven goals between them. Joe Daniher had a down day, but still managed two goals. The move to play Hooker as a defender and Stringer as a deep forward provided a lot more space to lead into.

Stringer looked far more comfortable as a deep forward. Two of his goals were easy over-the-top looks, but that's exactly what John Worsfold would want with a spacious forward line for his athletic targets to run into. Stringer didn't have any eye-popping stats, but his fourth goal was a beauty.

The pressure around the midfield and further forward was clearly an application issue that was corrected. The Bulldogs managed more tackles than the Bombers, despite having far more of the ball. Essendon laid 64 tackles to Port Adelaide's 61, but the ferocity of the tackles sent a message.

The addition of Guelfi injected plenty of pressure too. His closing speed to smother kicks and get a fist to the ball was first-class.

Some things are unsustainable, but the Bombers improved on the fundamental areas that they needed to in both the technical and physical areas of the game. Whether they can sustain this against Collingwood and Melbourne in the coming weeks will be an indicator of their rate of improvement.