Essendon coach Ben Rutten has urged his players to deliver an aggressive style of game and breathe life back into their AFL season with on-field flair.
At 1-6, the Bombers are in desperate need of a spark going into their crunch clash with Hawthorn at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night.
The horror start has brought pressure on Rutten and an intense spotlight on his underperforming team, which prominent critics have dubbed "lifeless" and "rudderless".
Rutten hopes loosening the shackles can ignite a turnaround against the Hawks.
"'We want to play a more aggressive brand of footy with some flair," Rutten told reporters on Thursday.
"That's one of the things we're not quite doing at the moment.
"There's a number of reasons for that but we just want to keep pushing it to be able to do that more often.
"We are trying to consistently look to educate and grow the players' understanding of the game and the opposition and embed their own skills set ... while still making sure the players are turning up with their flair and their individuality."
Rutten led Essendon to an elimination final last year despite a 2-6 start to the season.
The Bombers face a significant challenge to engineer a similar turnaround this year with games against Hawthorn, Sydney (away), Richmond and Port Adelaide (away) leading into the bye.
The dire situation has poured heat on Rutten, who is in his second full season in charge after the handover from John Worsfold.
The 38-year-old said he feels "well-supported" at Essendon despite calls from club legend Matthew Lloyd for a full-scale external review of the operations.
"We're not playing the footy or as going as well as we would have liked and we understand when we do that you open yourself up to some criticism and different opinions and that's part of the game," Rutten said.
"I don't think that's a new thing for me.
"I just need to be really clear on what my job is and how I can best coach the players and get us performing at the level we need to."
Rutten said high-profile midfielder Dylan Shiel is "more than likely" to return to the starting 22 against Hawthorn after being dropped to the substitute role last week.
