BRENDON Goddard says Essendon can't get into the habit of accepting honourable defeats as the club gives opportunities to younger players in the final two months of the season.

The Bombers are out of finals contention and look set to finish in the bottom rungs of the ladder after making the final eight last year.

After a solid display against North Melbourne on Friday night, when Essendon had 12 players with less than 50 games experience, the Bombers won some praise for their effort in the 25-point defeat.

But Goddard said it was still a missed opportunity after starting well, and that the group couldn't be pleased with being beaten. 

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"We don't want to have honourable losses. My expectations are always high – I'm pretty demanding and ruthless," Goddard told AFL.com.au.

"I've got high expectations on myself and demand a lot out of my teammates.

"It's somewhat easy with a young team to get in a frame of mind and feel good about honourable losses, but that's not what I'm about and that's not what we're about as a footy club."

Goddard said the Bombers had conceded in recent weeks that, while finals were still mathematically possible, they were going to be out of reach for the club this year.

It meant some of their focuses had changed, and they had stopped worrying as much about results but instead trying to recapture the style of game they want to implement.

Goddard, who crossed to Essendon as a free agent at the end of 2012 chasing success, said the group would need to find ways to stay motivated in the final seven rounds of the year.

"We can't think about our win-loss, we just need to concentrate on what we can improve. We're playing a lot of kids at the moment so their development is really important, but we're here to win," he said.

"It's irrelevant thinking or talking about finals, and even [our] win-loss [ratio]. We're talking about performing, giving great effort and then improving.

"Everyone will find different stimulus to get through to the end of the season but we've talked about all getting on the same bus and going in the one direction. It becomes a lot more powerful if that's the case."

The Bombers have slipped to 5-11 and 14th position on the ladder. They meet 12th-placed Port Adelaide on Saturday night at Etihad Stadium.