ESSENDON coach Mark Thompson is confident his players will eradicate their slow starts against Richmond next weekend after their first quarter cost them dearly against the Sydney Swans.

The Swans booted five goals to one in the opening term to lead by 26 points at the first break on the way to a 11.13 (79) to 8.9 (57) victory at the SCG.

While Essendon showed plenty of fight to reduce the gap to 10 points in the third term, the first-quarter lapse proved too big a margin to overcome.

"Tonight's lesson was that if you want to play against good teams you've got to bring your game to the game straight away and be ready for them to be as good as you," Thompson said.

"The Swans were certainly good. They always are, they turn up to play and our boys didn't cope with it early.

"Clearly they were the better side on the night and I thought we were lucky to lose by the margin we did."

The loss snapped a four-game winning streak, leaving Essendon at 10-8 and putting the club at risk of dropping out of the top eight at the end of the round.

After the round 20 clash with Richmond, Essendon faces West Coast, Gold Coast and Carlton before a prospective finals appearance.

All four opponents sit outside the top eight heading into round 19.

Thompson said sustaining a four-quarter effort would be the Bombers' focus on the training track next week. 

"We've got four matches to go and we have to play well but I believe we can get back into some good form really quickly," Thompson said.

"I haven't lost too much tonight because there is no shame in losing to Sydney up here.

"We will improve, no doubts from here."