Essendon have all but admitted their finals hopes will be gone if they cannot beat Adelaide at AAMI Stadium on Saturday night.

The Bombers need to win at least three of the next games to stay afloat, but assistant coach Alan Richardson says the Crows clash is the most important.

"We play four sides (Adelaide, Melbourne, West Coast and North Melbourne) that are either around about us in terms of win-loss or just below us so there's a real opportunity there for us," Richardson said.

"This week, though, in particular, is a massive game for us and I think those next three games almost to some extent become irrelevant if we weren't to get over Adelaide.

"We've got to go close to winning four. We think if we win three, the belief in the group is that evens the win-loss (ratio).

"If we win four we go into the positive and that would give us enormous momentum going into the rest of the season."

Essendon had a nightmare trip to Adelaide the last time the two met, losing to the Crows by 96 points, based mainly on the absence of their two key ruckmen, although Richardson says the team is upbeat.

"Our team has changed significantly since (senior coach) Matthew (Knights) has taken over.

"The last time we played was in the (elimination) final last year. We didn't have a ruckman - (David) Hille didn't play at all last year and Paddy Ryder got suspended the previous week.

"We got absolutely smashed in the middle of the ground and didn't get a look at the footy really," he said.

"So, we've got a very different side and we don't really look back at that result.

"We're pretty confident - our team's been in reasonable form and if we can elevate that to another level - and we think we can after the (mid-season) break - then we think we can get a result."

While Hille re-injured his hamstring during training this week and will miss the match, Ryder will be called on for a major contribution.

"We are going to be asking for a massive effort from Paddy Ryder," said Richardson.

"We saw that on Anzac Day against outstanding opposition last year (Collingwood), so we'll be looking for a similar effort."

Adelaide have been in patchy form but have won three of their past five games.

"They've got some personnel back and there's no doubt their form has been much better," Richardson said.

"They were struggling early in the year but their last month in particular has been really impressive so we plan to play against a team that's in good form and running really hard."

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