John Worsfold knows as well as anyone the challenges that confront his team this season.

Presented with such unique circumstances, he and his football department are not basing their measure of success purely on wins and losses.  They're also looking for mini victories within games throughout the season.

Learning from mistakes, playing until the final whistle, not going into their shell and securing the suspended players are all wins the players and coaches are looking to achieve.

“One of the things we want to be known for is that we don’t want to give up,” John Worsfold told 3AW.

“We want to be competitive all of the way through games.”

Hayden Skipworth told Bomber Radio he’s looking for the forward group to maximise their efficiency – given the ball may not be coming inside 50 as often as it normally would.

Worsfold and his coaching team are aware mistakes will be made, but they don’t want that to deter the players.

“In the first quarter Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti took them (North Melbourne) on through the middle of the ground, slipped over, got caught holding the ball and it went straight back for a goal,” Worsfold said.

“But I want him to keep doing that, I want him to take the game on.

“So I’ve got to make sure that I don’t get too down on those mistakes because the players may go into their shell and in the second half it was the same sort of daring by Tipungwuti that helped us get on the scoreboard and take them on.

“They are the sorts of wins we’re looking for, where we don’t go into our shell and we keep learning and backing ourselves in.

“The more the players do that, especially the young players, the more confidence they’ll get, they’ll be able to read the game better and know when to do it and when not to do it.”

Worsfold said the commitments of the suspended players are another form of victory the Bombers can enjoy because it provides vindication the Club is on the right path.

“The other wins we’re getting are when we get the news of David Myers committing to the Club, and Dyson Heppell committing to the Club because they’re talking to their teammates…and they’re getting really positive reinforcement,” he said.

Essendon is in the unique situation of essentially having 55 players on its list.  That includes the 12 suspended players and the ten recruits picked up to cover their absence.  Most clubs have about 45 listed players.

The extra numbers will lead to some tight list management decisions at the end of the season, particularly given the form of some of the recruits picked up earlier this year, all of whom are on one year deals.

James Kelly and Matt Dea have been excellent in defence while Mathew Stokes was productive in the forward line before injuring his hamstring.

“It’s probably too early to make that call at the moment, we’ve got a lot of things that will play out over the next few months,” Worsfold said.

“We’ve got to wait and be absolutely clear on where our 12 players that are currently suspended sit and how many are going to take up the offers that we’ve given them.

“Once we know that we have a better idea of what we can do with the rest of our list.

“As a Club, we still got some challenges that are unchartered really that we haven’t been through before and list management is one of them. 

“But fair to say the players that have come in and got opportunities that they may not have expected, they’re putting every right foot forward to give themselves an opportunity to show that they’ve got something to offer whether it be at Essendon or other clubs.”