Essendon Coach John Worsfold has bemoaned a season-worst clanger count which he says cost his team a chance of victory against Richmond at the MCG on Saturday night.

The Bombers suffered a 15-point loss in the Dreamtime game after being smashed in inside 50s (71-42) but winning in possessions (413-367), clearances (38-33), contested ball (149-140) and tackles (72-71).

For Worsfold the killer statistic was clangers, with the Bombers racking up 67 to the Tigers' 47.

"A lot of credit to Richmond – they put us under a lot of heat and we didn't respond well enough, and the players have acknowledged that," Worsfold said in his post-match media conference.

"They felt (that) after a couple of early turnovers they went into their shell a bit. Good teams don't do that.

"We turned it over way too many times. It was across the board (and it's) very hard to put it down to anything.

"We haven't been that poor, I don't think, this year in that regard. And they generally (weren't) under real pressure.

"That's disappointing, but we've got to cop that. That's cost us the opportunity to be closer and maybe even winning the game."

The Bombers coach was also concerned by his team's habit of conceding so many inside 50s, although he indicated the Tigers weren't quite as dominant as the stats would suggest.

"We could’ve lost by a fair bit more but we couldn't really either because the way their re-entries and inside 50s (were) coming, they're not coming from clearances or from moving the ball all the way down the ground," he explained.

"It was coming out and back in to a lot of numbers, so it makes it hard for (opposition) teams to score, but it's not the way we want to play.

"We defended pretty well. For that many inside 50s we were really good at holding their score, but the number of turnovers was more than even in our poorer games this year, and that's costly.

"That meant they got repeat entries, and we didn't get enough of the ball in our front half."

Worsfold added that his players overused handball, the result of a combination of poor decision-making and Richmond's pressure.

"That's a good learning point for us as a team," he said.

The Bombers, who face Greater Western Sydney at Spotless Stadium next Saturday, are now 5-5 and just outside the top eight.

Worsfold wouldn't be drawn on whether the reassembled team had achieved a pass mark to this point, but he said he was pleased with the commitment of his players.

"There's certainly been a lot of new stuff for me, even as a coach who's been around for a while. This 10 weeks has challenged us in some areas I haven't had to work through before, but we're all enjoying the challenge of getting through that," he said.