Taunted Melbourne have pledged to prove a point about their toughness against an Essendon side wondering whether their own bruise-free weekend will hurt them.

Stung by Carlton players labelling them exponents of "bruise-free football" after being thumped by the Blues last Friday night, Melbourne aim to blow that tag away against the Bombers.

Demons midfielder Jack Trengove, who will return from a three-game AFL suspension in Friday night's MCG clash, said Melbourne were keenly awaiting their return bout with Carlton in round 20.

But first, they plan to turn up the aggression against the Bombers.

"For now it's just all about Essendon," Trengove said on Thursday.

"You don't want to be labelled soft, so we'll be trying to prove that point this weekend.

"Coming off a few poor performances, we all want to turn it around.

"We've done everything possible this week to make that happen.

"It all starts with putting pressure on the ball-carrier for the opposing team with our tackling and pressure."

Bombers coach James Hird would have done nothing to soften the Demons' mood, when he said he watched them play last Friday night, but refused to say whether he thought the Blues were justified in their derisive comments.

"Our opinion on how we play is what we're here to talk about, but Carlton and Melbourne I'm sure will sort that out," Hird told reporters.

But he has no doubt a physical test will be coming.

"We expect every team to come out physical, that's the nature of football, it's a combative game," he said.

"Every game we seem to play is a highly contested ball game and this will be no different.

"Melbourne are a proud football club, they've got a coach who loves them to play exciting, daring football and that includes going and winning their own footy.

"We understand that tomorrow night is going to be a very physical affair and we hope to match them in that area."

Adding to the danger for the Bombers, they are coming off the bye, which many sides have struggled to rebound from this season.

Hird theorised that was because the game was more physically demanding than ever before - both in terms of high-impact body clashes and endurance running.

He said the mental effort needed to cope with such weekly buffeting could be hard to summon after a weekend off.

"You get into a routine of getting your body hit, getting your body hurt, running, working hard in a game," Hird said.

"Once that gets put out of kilter for a week or two, it can take you a while to get back into it.

"The one thing we need to do is start really well and keep our game going after having the bye. Mentally you switch off a little bit."

Hird said the Bombers had tried to simulate match conditions in one of their training sessions during the bye to avoid losing their edge.

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