Bombers put drugs investigations aside and focus on footy Ben Howlett celebrates a running goal against the Crows. THERE'S not much midfielder Ben Howlett and his teammates can do about the Essendon doping crisis - except train and play as hard as possible. Coach James Hird again praised the resilience of his players as they opened the AFL season with a stirring 35-point win over Adelaide at AAMI Stadium. Howlett starred with four goals and six tackles. "It's galvanised the group a little bit," Howlett said of the issue that will hang over the Bombers for potentially the whole season. It's not every day you go through something like that, when potentially your job is on the line, all of that. 10 things we learnt last night We concentrated on what we could concentrate on and that's footy. The last six weeks have just been training as hard as we can and setting new standards. Essendon is under a joint Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority and AFL investigation for supplements that were given to the players last season. The Bombers have also commissioned an independent investigation of their governance, admitting irregular practices. Despite the ongoing stress, Hird said it would be simplistic to say the game was won on emotion. But it was clearly a massive way for the team to start the season, which was underscored by the players' full-throttle rendition of the club song in the rooms afterwards. "The feeling was amazing after the game," Howlett said. Thanks to the split opening round, Essendon now have a fortnight off before their Saturday-night match against Melbourne at the MCG. Howlett said Essendon are determined that the Adelaide win will only be the start of a strong season. "It (Friday's win) can't be a one-off and all pre-season, we've been training excellent," he said. James mentioned that during the week and we've taken our training to a new height. So we have to keep that standard up and hope it goes into games.