ESSENDON forward Orazio Fantasia says the external hype around the Bombers heading into this season has played no part in their uninspiring start to the season, which has seen the club drop its past two games.

The Bombers came from behind to beat Adelaide in round one at Etihad Stadium but have lost their past two clashes against Fremantle and the Western Bulldogs in disappointing fashion.

Coach John Worsfold said Sunday's loss to the Dogs was as bad as any in his time at Essendon, but Fantasia, who returned from a knee injury for his first game of the season last week, said the Bombers had not become carried away by the discussion around the club's finals hopes in 2018.

"Everyone puts expectations on themselves and we made the finals last year obviously, and that's a goal for every single team in the competition," he said on Tuesday.

"You want to make the finals and every team wants to win, so there's real [extra] expectations on us, we're just trying to get better every single week."

The Bombers placed a huge emphasis on improving their defence this season after conceding on average 92 points a game last year. But three rounds into this year and the club has gone backwards in that area, averaging 99 points against, putting them in the bottom six in the competition.

The players had a scheduled day off on Monday before returning to the club on Tuesday for a recovery session with a full review of the Bulldogs loss to come on Wednesday.

But Fantasia said the Bombers already knew the areas they needed to build on before facing the unbeaten Port Adelaide next Sunday at Etihad Stadium.

"We just didn't play our best footy on the day. Credit to the Bulldogs, they played really well, and we just didn't defend how we would have liked," the 22-year-old said.

"We wanted to match them in that contest and we didn't do that on the weekend.

"We were disappointed in the way we played, we didn't defend and let them take a lot of uncontested marks, and that's what we pride ourselves on stopping and we didn’t do that."

Fantasia had 15 disposals against the Dogs in his first game of the year, having not played any of the JLT Community Series after knee surgery in March. 

"I pulled up really, really well, surprisingly. I was a bit cooked, as you could imagine,  being out there for the first time not playing any pre-season games, but the body's feeling really good," he said.

The Bombers' task to beat the Power could be made tougher if running defender Conor McKenna is suspended on Tuesday night, when he will face the Tribunal for a misconduct charge for allegedly biting Bulldog Tory Dickson.

Fantasia said he hadn't noticed the serious charge affect McKenna around the Bombers' Tullamarine headquarters.

"Conor's an upbeat person, he's always bubbly around the club and doesn't show too much emotion, so no stress," Fantasia said.