Essendon Coach John Worsfold says people offended by a Joe Daniher goal celebration; need to ‘toughen up’.

The Bombers spearhead ruffled the hair of Crows player Rory Atkins after he booted a goal in the second term.

The pair played under 18 football together.

Worsfold dismissed any talk of Daniher crossing the line.

“Are they good mates? Did they grow up together? Are you allowed to have a bit of fun with your mates?” Worsfold said.

“They don’t get to play footy together in the backyard anymore like maybe they did when they were young.

“They now do it on a bit different stage, but they’re mates.

“If people have been offended by it, then toughen up.”

Worsfold also said he had no issue with Cale Hooker celebrating with the Bombers crowd after kicking a goal from the boundary despite the Dons trailing by more than six goals at the time.

When asked if Hooker’s celebration worried him, Worsfold said “that he tried to get the Essendon crowd fired up to cheer the boys on and get them going, does that worry me? No.”

The Dons had their moments against the ladder leading Crows but eventually went down by 43 points.

“Our ball use wasn’t as good as theirs,” Worsfold said.

“We had more goals that I think we coughed up where we had the chance to go forward and score and weren’t quite as clean as we should be.

“So we messed up a few opportunities to get forward and score where we either had the ball smothered or missed a handball or fumbled and they were at a higher level than us in that regard.

“They took their opportunities – they didn’t miss too many when they won the ball back.

“And just some of our contest work - I think we were still second to the ball and in the air as well. I think they were more committed in the air at the real hard contests.”

The result means the Dons need to win their last two games against Gold Coast and Fremantle to be a chance of making the finals.

Worsfold said the match against the Crows can provide a great learning opportunity ahead of the remaining games.

“There were areas of our game where we learnt we weren’t quite at their elite level yet,” he said.

“That’s the bonus of playing the team that at round 21 is premiership favourite and on top of the ladder.

“You’ll find out your shortfalls and where you need to keep improving and that’s what we learnt tonight.”