ESSENDON will shift its focus to more aerobic fitness work this pre-season, the third under coach James Hird and his panel.

While the first two pre-season campaigns since Hird took over at the end of 2010 were centred on education and building strength, the Bombers will be hit with more long-distance running as they hope to fast-track their development. 

"It's their third pre-season with us, so we can put a bit more work into them," Hird said on Friday.

"The game changes a little bit; we might go with a little bit more of an aerobic focus.

"[The program] does change, but the way we want to play is still very similar, so the football side of it won't change a lot."?

The first step of that came on Friday, when Essendon's list was put through back-to-back time trials around Princes Park.

Midfielder Brent Stanton recorded the best times, with forward Stewart Crameri second, and Ariel Steinberg, who has yet to make his AFL debut, next best.

The club's pre-season will move into its next phase on Saturday, with a select group of 10 players heading to Colorado for a three-week altitude training camp.

One of those will be Brendon Goddard, Essendon's high-profile recruit who is yet to meet his new teammates after crossing from St Kilda in the free agency period.

He is due to arrive in Colorado on Saturday, having been on holidays in the US ahead of the camp.

Hird said he had kept in touch with Goddard since he joined the club.

"It's been mainly by phone calls, emails and text messages, so we're very excited to have him come along, but it will be a couple of weeks before our fans gets to see him train with us properly," Hird said.

"[We've spoken about] his expectations, and what he wants out of us, what we want out of him, and what he wants out of his football.

"Every player has a desire to be a terrific footballer personally and to be a part of a great team and that's his desire. That's what we've talked about."

Out-of-contract pair Brent Prismall and Ricky Dyson trained on Friday, with the club to decide in the next two weeks whether they will be given places on the club's list.

"We just want to see them train for a couple of weeks and make sure the effort's there and make sure their bodies can stand up to a whole pre-season," Hird said.

Follow AFL website reporter Callum Twomey on Twitter at @AFL_CalTwomey.