Following Friday night's loss against Richmond, Adam Simpson and Ken Hinkley have raised questions surrounding Essendon's lack of identity.

In their annual Dreamtime at the 'G clash, it was anything but for the Bombers, who incurred an 18-point loss to the Tigers.

As a result, Essendon now occupies 18th spot on the ladder, having only won one game in the last 365 days and an injury list that is growing by the week.

While it is evident that the club is in the midst of a rebuild, the 2018 Premiership coach admits he is still unsure of what their game plan is, sparking concern around their ability to compete against fellow rebuilding sides.

“What's the identity of your side when you're trying to go through this rebuild?” Simpson noted on SEN’s Crunch Time.

“I look at McQualter and what he's trying to do with his side (West Coast), and I'm still trying to work out, what are we trying to do on (the) field, and he's in his 2nd year.

“Then you look at Adam Yze, and from the beginning, he wanted the spirit and fight bit, as an underlying, we do this no matter what.

“But the way they play, it's pretty aggressive in terms of a straight line game.

“And every now and then they'll switch it and go straight, but I can see it.

“I can see (Tim) Taranto, (Tom) Lynch, (Jacob) Hopper, (Jayden) Short, (Nathan) Broad, and (Nick) Vlastuin all play their roles in a really set way. They know what they're doing in terms of their positioning.

“So, it's clear for me what evolution looks like for them.

“And when I look at the Bombers, I don't think they've worked out their identity just yet.

“Even with a few injuries here and there before the game, I'm trying to work out what's their DNA?”

Hinkley would agree, noting that they had plenty to work on to try to establish their key tenets.

“There's so much to work on when you start out,” Hinkley added.

“I remember when I went into Port Adelaide such a long time ago.

“The one thing we wanted was to be honest in the contest, and we wanted to be a defensive team. We wanted to make sure that we were hard to play against.

“That's language that everyone's heard in footy for a long, long time.

“But you look at the Bombers' stats. They give up the most short kicks, they give up the most total kicks, they give up the most second most disposals, they give up the most effective disposal, they give up the most marks, they give up the most play on from marks.

“There's so many things (to work on). Now, most bottom teams are at the bottom of those stats, but these are really clear parameters that you can actually work on.”

The Bombers will look to turn their form around when they travel west to take on the Eagles next Sunday.