In a 10-game AFLW season, every opportunity matters.

For Essendon Senior Coach Natalie Wood, the next two weeks will be no different, as the side looks to bounce back from a difficult loss to West Coast last Sunday.

Still sitting with a healthy 5-3 record after the defeat, Wood is viewing the loss as an important lesson for the group’s developing game style.

“(West Coast) were in our face around the contest and we were taking some backwards steps, not fighting forward, not getting territory when we had the opportunity, a couple of handballs and turnovers too many,” Wood said.

“(We need) just a better understanding when the pressure’s high about how to move the ball away from congestion, we were holding onto it a little bit too long.

“Today was a difficult day and we’ll learn a lot from it. Hopefully we’ll come back out and put in a better performance against Carlton next week.”

Working around injuries to key players has been an obstacle for the Bombers in recent weeks, but Wood has been impressed by the ability of her players to adapt in untried positions.

Being only the side’s second season, Wood wants to take every chance to develop the group in different roles.

“We’ve had to move a number of different personnel around and trial some different people. We learned a lot about some of our younger players today and there’s some positives for us,” Wood said.

“Ash van Loon competed really well, we put Kodi Jacques back in front of the football, Sophie Van De Heuvel went up to a wing while Mia Van Dyke went back.

“We’ve got two really good games coming up that are really important, we want to keep taking steps forward and we need to find ways to (do that) with the injuries we’ve got.

“We’re still really comfortable that there’s a lot of flexibility. Some of it is still a little bit unknown, so there’s things that we’ve been wanting to look at and try. That’s an exciting part being in our second year, we’re trying to find ways to keep improving.”

As they continue to gel, the side is happy to stay focused on what it can control heading into the business end of the season.

“Every week’s a big occasion (in a 10-round season). We can only control what we’re doing,” Wood said.

“We educate at every opportunity possible, don’t get swayed by the wins and losses. When we win, we still find the things that went well and things to improve, and today’s no different to that.

“Being in our second year, trying to establish connection and a game plan, we’re of complete understanding that we have to be at our best every week to compete against whoever we’re playing.”