Despite not playing its best footy against North Melbourne, Essendon is into the top eight for now, but coach Ben Rutten says consistency will be key going forward.

The Bombers struggled to kick themselves into gear as the Kangaroos controlled the first half, but rocketed home on the back of four goals from Jake Stringer.

"The first quarter, first half, our pressure was down, we were a bit stand-offish, and North were able to pick their way through a little too often," Rutten said.

"We didn't really put it on [our leaders], but they certainly wanted to respond after that first half. For whatever reason – the conditions, the week we've had – the guys acknowledged that, put their hand up and were keen to do something about it.

"It's (top eight) good reward for some of the effort we've been putting in across the whole season. We were a fair bit off our best footy today and our challenge – and I've been talking about it for a few weeks – is to bridge that gap in our consistency, and that's what we're going to need to do."

Injured vice-captain Andy McGrath is quarantining after being caught up in an exposure site, and the club is eager to keep him involved.

"It's just the way life is at the moment. Andy has been in quarantine for a couple of days now, I think the boys FaceTimed him for the song, so we're doing our best to keep those guys engaged," Rutten said.

"They're really important people at our footy club and we want to support them as best we can and it’s a difficult situation in Australia for everyone who's in lockdown at the moment, we've just got a couple of many who are in lockdown and trying to work their way through it."

Essendon is scheduled to face GWS and Sydney at Marvel Stadium over the next fortnight, but will remain in Queensland ahead of a revised fixture from the AFL.

Rutten said the Bombers' quest for finals could be bolstered by the returns of key personnel in the final rounds of the home and away season.

The Bombers lost Harrison Jones (foot) and Kyle Langford (hamstring) to injury ahead of their win over North Melbourne, with midfielders Dylan Shiel and Jye Caldwell still sidelined since round two but edging closer to returns.

"We’re going to wait on more information on Harry Jones’ foot injury in the next couple of days. We were keen to be pretty conservative in our decision to not play him. We’ll have a timeline soon," Rutten said.

"Shiel won’t be far off. Hopefully Langford only misses one more. Caldwell is also starting to do more training as well. Hopefully we have better player availability in the next few weeks."

- with essendonfc.com.au