Essendon coach James Hird could see a silver lining in the storm cloud of his side's 16-point AFL loss to Richmond.

But it was only a small one.

"The bye has probably come at exactly the right time," Hird said after Richmond's 16.9 (105) to 13.11 (89) win over the Bombers.

"Jobe (Watson), (Michael) Hurley, should come back (from injury) for the Melbourne game so it will help us out there."

Essendon sorely missed their skipper Watson in midfield and Hurley's marking power. Hird will give selected players a four-day break before returning to the track, ahead of the round 11 clash with Melbourne at the MCG on Friday June 3.

In a match played in a finals-type atmosphere at the MCG in front of 83,563 fans on Saturday night, a tired-looking Essendon suffered only their third defeat of the season.

The loss came despite the Bombers dominating the inside-50s and clearances.

"It's disappointing that you get two weeks to think about it," Hird said.

"It's just disappointing to lose. You go out and you think that you played well and you're a good chance to win, and we didn't.

"It's disappointing at any time to lose and it's disappointing on big occasions to lose as well."

Hird said his side's kicking efficiency was barely above 50 per cent.

"It's very hard to win games of footy doing that," he said.

"Our ball use definitely let us down.

"Some of it was skills, some of it was decision-making, some because of the pressure that Richmond put on."

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