Essendon Bombers coach James Hird has insisted he will remain in his job despite his side’s 110-point thumping at the weekend.

But he admitted that St Kilda’s biggest-ever victory over the Dons — his team’s fifth straight loss — has intensified pressure on his coaching future.

“It won’t challenge my belief [I am the right man] but it certainly puts pressure on me,” Hird said at post-match press conference.

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“As a coach when you have won four and lost nine the pressure comes on. I still believe I can coach this group, it’s my own belief, whether it’s other people’s belief we will see.

“I’m not worried about the pressure, it can’t be much more than what it’s been previously.”

Captain Jobe Watson, playing his milestone 200th game, was stationed at half-forward to bring experience to the forward line, but watched on as Essendon was smashed.

When asked about the pressure intensifying on his coach, Watson told News Corp : “That is the reality of the game. The heat comes on everyone at some point.

“The disappointing thing is from today’s performance the effort wasn’t there from the playing group and as players you can’t hide from that and as captain I can’t hide from that. I have to put up with it.”

One of Essendon’s only stars of the match, Dyson Heppell, said there was much respect and belief for their coach.

“We love Hirdy, we love having Hirdy around. Everyone has got so much respect for the man,” Heppell said.

“We love having Hirdy as the coach.”

Post-match Hird said his side “stopped playing” during the abysmal showing, which placed the Dons fourteenth on the ladder just above Melbourne by percentage.

“Our effort and intensity was poor,” he said.

“Why they didn’t have effort today is something I’m still scratching my head about and we’ll try and find out pretty quickly.”

He would not discuss whether the loss was WADA-related.

Essendon takes on Melbourne next week but Jason Winderlich (shin) was a late out with Adam Cooney (groin) to miss against the Demons and Dustin Fletcher (groin) not due back.