Bombers not daunted by poor interstate record

ESSENDON will travel to Adelaide on Thursday afternoon unperturbed by their disappointing road record this year.

Essendon has won just one of five interstate games this year, with losses to Port Adelaide in round one at AAMI Stadium, Brisbane in round six at the Gabba, West Coast in round 18 and Fremantle in round 21 at Subiaco making up the poor interstate record.

The side's only interstate win this year came against the Sydney Swans at the SCG in round 15.

Midfielder Heath Hocking said the players wouldn't be daunted by the run of defeats, and would focus on getting on top of the hostile Adelaide crowd early.

"We haven't really talked about it [Essendon's interstate record], we're obviously pretty good in big games, so if we can go into the game with that mentality, I think we'll be right," Hocking said

"We'll concentrate on starting well and shutting the crowd out and we'll see what happens from there."

Assistant coach Ashley Prescott said the Bombers would take heart from their round 15 win over the Sydney Swans at the SCG.

"There have been some disappointing interstate games, but Sydney was a really positive performance," Prescott said.

"We went over there and played against a side that was pressing for finals and we were fantastic.

"It hasn't all been doom and gloom and I think given it is a final and a big stage we're really confident the players can perform."