Statistically, Geelong aside, Essendon is the form team in the competition at present and the Bombers have their resurgent midfield to thank for it.

Since the halfway point of the season, Essendon's engine room has undergone a dramatic transformation that has seen it get the better of almost every other midfield it has come up against, and its output reached a new height on Saturday against Collingwood.

Bombers David Hille, Jobe Watson, Andrew Welsh and Sam Lonergan combined for a staggering 51 contested possessions in Essendon's 48-point win over the Magpies.

And Essendon on-baller Brent Stanton, who enjoyed 24 disposals and a goal himself on the weekend, explained what has instigated the rapid spike in improvement from the Bombers' midfield.

"We came together as a group at the mid-part of the break and we wanted to set some objectives and try and get that contested ball back into our game," Stanton explained.

"It was pretty good early on in the year, (then) we went through a patch where it wasn't up to scratch so we thought if we concentrated on that and started to win some clearances everything else would take care of itself."

And the 22-year-old says he and his midfield colleagues now had the confidence to take on any on-ball department in the AFL.

"Everyone's doing their job, Andrew Welsh is doing his job every week, Jobe Watson, all these sort of guys that are really starting to come into their own in the midfield," said Stanton.

"It's fantastic that we can all come together at once and pretty much come up against the good midfields in the competition and match them at their own game and then also pretty much take our own game on from there."

Despite the Bombers' recent six-match run which has seen them win five games and lose just one match to Richmond by four points, Stanton insisted the team had not even spoken about an unlikely finals berth this season.

"We're just looking to win as many games as possible, there are a lot of sides ahead of us and as many games as we win it's gonna be a fantastic first year for Matthew Knights and also for the young guys who have had a chance to actually get in there and have a go at AFL level," he said.

Meanwhile, bad boy Andrew Lovett could return to the side this week against Melbourne after serving a club-imposed two-match suspension for unprofessionalism.

Forgotten defender Courtenay Dempsey, who played well in the VFL on Sunday, was also in line for a surprise return against the Demons, Stanton said.

"But after a good win like that there's normally not too many changes," he said.