ESSENDON'S season is still alive, but coach John Worsfold knows his Bombers have plenty to improve on as they fight for a top eight spot.

The Bombers were slow out of the blocks against the Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium, trailing by five points at half-time while struggling to find avenues to goal.

But a stronger second-half showing, including a four-goal unanswered third quarter, lifted the Bombers to a 13.17 (95) to 6.15 (51) win over the Suns.

BOMBERS STAY AFLOAT Full match coverage and stats

The 44-point win keeps Essendon within reach of a finals spot, but after the match Worsfold said more was required from his team if they wanted to challenge for a spot in September.             

"We have to definitely keep improving. By no means do we say we're a complete team yet," Worsfold said.

"So that's our aim, every game we're learning more about each other.

"We lost (Patrick) Ambrose and (Jake) Stringer from last week, we've had a run where we've lost a couple of players over a number of weeks, but really pleased the way the players have come in and responded."

SAAD'S MIXED BAG Five talking points

Worsfold said their first quarter in particular was poor against the Suns.

"The first 10 minutes we started to get the game going our way, and had a bit of the ball, but then the next 20 minutes was pretty average," he said.

"The boys just went away from playing the style of footy we want to play but they addressed that and improved it a fair bit in the second quarter, but really knuckled down in that second half."

WATCH Full John Worsfold post-match press conference

Worsfold said the turn-around in momentum came from the Bombers addressing their defensive turnovers and lowering their eyes to hit leading targets in the second half.

Despite the improvement, he lamented their foot skills in the game.

"Overall our kicking wasn't great for the night, even in the second half we missed too many, what I would say, are targets where players are in space and should take marks, but they've had to run on to ground balls," he said.

Orazia Fantasia was named to play during the week but was a late withdrawal, with Jake Long taking his place.

Worsfold said Fantasia trained on Saturday morning and while not fit enough to play against the Suns, he was "very confident" the livewire forward would return for next week's clash with Fremantle.

"(Fantasia) Just didn't come up. Not a reoccurrence, we were hopeful it would get to that point where it would turn a corner and he would be well enough to play," he said.

"That point didn't come in time."

He said the Bombers left Metricon Stadium with a clean bill of health.