The standing ovation given to Essendon after its close loss to North Melbourne on Saturday proved to coach John Worsfold the club is winning back the pride of its supporters.

The Bombers were on track for a disastrous day against the Roos after recording the club's lowest half-time score – 0.4 – since round one, 1915.

But an eight-goal-to-two second half showed the Bombers' fight, and they got within 14 points of the unbeaten Kangaroos who did enough to win their eighth-straight game for 2016.

The biggest margin of the day was 52 points in the third term, but the Bombers gradually trimmed it back with an impressive showing after the main break.

At its first game at Etihad Stadium this year, a large contingent of Essendon supporters stayed after the final siren to applaud their players off the field despite the defeat, and Worsfold said it showed the club's fans were proud of the team's spirit in trying circumstances so far this year.

"We want to build something special, and this group is making itself proud. This group, in a big way, is only together for one footy season. They want to be known for something – what have they achieved this year?" Worsfold said after the loss.

"At the moment most people would say they're a very brave group that are pretty tight-knit the way they're going about it, even though they haven't been together for very long.

"That is something we've said is one of the things we're aiming to achieve this season. The fact their supporters stood up for them at the end of the game indicates they're some part of the way to achieving that."

The loss was Essendon's seventh of the season and its sixth straight since beating Melbourne in round two. The contrasting halves made for a difficult game to assess for Worsfold, but he said he would leave the game pleased with his team's fight.

"The overriding emotion from that is the reception the players received from the fans post-game, and I assume probably throughout the last quarter. [It] was not applauding a loss, but applauding the future of where these players are showing they want to take the club," he said.

"That was pretty exciting to be part of today.

"The Essendon fans were unbelievable. They stood up and applauded something they can see is building to become very special. It's going to take us a while for us to get it where we want it to, but I've got no doubt today people are saying … it's a pretty exciting group."

Worsfold highlighted youngsters Kyle Langford, Darcy Parish, Mason Redman, Zach Merrett, Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti, Orazio Fantasia and Conor McKenna – all of which have no more than three years in the AFL system – as positives from the clash with North Melbourne.

Essendon continues to struggle in attack, however, continuing against the Roos its average of just eight goals a game this season.

Worsfold said it was important at the main change not to dwell too much on the Bombers inability to kick a goal, and that "at half-time the key thing was the players had to believe they could go out and maintain the effort and they would get a better result".

He hopes the experimentation forced upon his coaching group this season due to WADA's season-long bans to 12 players would see its benefits next year when the suspended Dons return to the club, particularly in the front half.

"When we look at next year's line-up, we've got at least two, maybe three or four pretty experienced, talented forwards coming back in," he said.

"But it'd be awesome if we say to them 'OK, you've got to force Fantasia or Langford out of this line-up if you want to be in and now it's down to performance'. I think it's exciting."