The Bombers have won their past three home and away matches against St Kilda, and also managed a draw and win in their two meetings in this year's NAB Cup, but Hird said his side's history over St Kilda was largely irrelevant.
"It (Essendon's dominance) was hard to explain, because St Kilda is such a fantastic side structurally and they move the ball so well," Hird said at Windy Hill on Thursday.
"I think it had a fair bit to do with Essendon's speed and how they get behind them. But we're a different side now, and they're a different side, so I don't think you can afford to look at past performances. You've got to look forward and that's what we're doing this week."
"Our players have played against St Kilda a lot over the last couple of years, but I think what you take out of St Kilda is the fantastic side they have been, how they structure their side, and the way they're coached."
"You know when you play St Kilda it's going to be a very hard game and to be a chance of winning you need to be at your best," Hird said.
Hird said last week's five-point loss to Sydney was an important lesson for his side in not moving away from the strengths of its impressive 55-point win over the Western Bulldogs in round one.
"Every week you don't hunt your opposition, you're in trouble. Maybe last week we waited for Sydney a little bit, so we'll be on the front foot," he said.
"It wasn't much fun losing a game, and we have to tighten up some areas where we didn't perform that well against Sydney. We thought against the Western Bulldogs we played very well in some areas, but against Sydney, we let ourselves down in those same areas."
With Hird impressed by the performance of Tom Bellchambers in the ruck against the Swans - he racked up 31 hit-outs - the Essendon coach suggested there was no need to rush first-choice ruckman David Hille back into the side from a hip injury.
He also confirmed lead-up forward Angus Monfries was a "very good" chance to return to the side after missing round two, while Nathan Lovett-Murray, who will play a full game in round three after being the substitute in the opening two rounds, could fill David Myers' role as a tall defender.
"(Hille) has got a little thing in his hip that's not that serious. We thought it was a knock after the Bulldogs game and it's shown up as a slight strain. We could push him up this week but it's a long year and he didn't have a great pre-season, so we'll wait just wait until the Carlton game next week," Hird said.
"Henry Slattery is a chance (to come into the side), Angus Monfries is a very good chance and then we've got Brent Prismall, Kyle Reimers and Travis Colyer in contention, and Scott Gumbleton as well, who played very well in the reserves."
