ESSENDON may be in a mini-slump but young gun Zach Merrett insists the aim at Bomberland remains to progress well into the finals.

"We know we've got the list to go deep into September, it's just getting that consistency and mindset right," he said after the loss to Fremantle on Saturday night.

"All the selflessness is starting to show up, but we've got to start winning games.

"It's only round six and we have shown that we can play the right footy so we are still obviously optimistic that we can go deep into September."

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A narrow loss to the Sydney Swans and a victory over Hawthorn had the Bombers flying high, but the form has tapered with losses to Collingwood and Fremantle, a scrappy win over Carlton and a two-point victory over St Kilda.

Merrett, 19, who booted a first-term goal as did his brother Jackson, said Fremantle was good, but the Swans' late surge in round one had been the best football he'd seen this season so far.

"(Fremantle) played pretty well in that first half, but Sydney in that last quarter probably tops it off," he said.

"The pressure around the ball was probably similar to Freo, but yeah, they're both pretty good sides.

"They beat us around the contest early and that was the main focus against Fremantle but we couldn't get it done.

"We knew they were going to tire at the end with the way they play, so we were trying to hang in there until that last quarter-and-a-half but unfortunately we weren't there at the end.

"They didn't fluctuate with their contested ball around the footy and that was something we weren't consistent with."