Essendon captain Dyson Heppell says his side should be proud of its efforts in the Bombers’ 16-point loss to Collingwood on Sunday.

The Bombers were right in the contest throughout the match before the Magpies broke free with five of the last six goals to extend their impressive purple patch of form.

Heppell said there were still many positives to take out of the disappointing defeat.

“(It is) obviously very disappointing to lose, but I think we need to be really proud of our effort today,” Heppell said after the loss.

“We still played the way we would have liked for probably three quarters of that game.

“(We) really felt like we had it on our terms for a lot of it, but probably just lacked that real bit of polish at the end of the game and they really got on top of us in the last quarter.”

Collingwood remains in second position on the ladder after the victory, and Heppell praised the vastly improved side.

“The way they’re travelling, I’d say they’re in the top couple of teams in the comp at the moment – when they get a roll on they’re really hard to contain.

“Especially around the contest, they had far better method and balance around the ball and (that) allowed them to run the ball forward.”

The skipper was among Essendon’s best players on Sunday, gathering 33 disposals and five clearances to lead from the front as the side took it up to Collingwood, but a second-quarter hamstring injury to key defender Patrick Ambrose made the task even harder for the Bombers.

“You don’t really notice it at the time, but you’re down a rotation – you need to stay on the ground for a little bit longer – and it probably showed that they were running on top of the ground a lot better than us in that last quarter,” Heppell said.

Heppell had his own injury concern with a cut eye, but played out the game strongly and said there would be no lasting effects.

Jake Long was a late inclusion for injured forward Orazio Fantasia and Heppell said he was impressed by the young midfielder’s performance (with 17 disposals) in his first senior game since 2016.

“Great to have Longy in the side, (it) adds a real different element to us, (he’s) really skilful.

“I thought he played his role quite well and he’s going to continue to improve the more games he gets under his belt.”

With the season on a knife’s edge the Bombers will be on the road next week to face Gold Coast in a must-win clash, and Heppell said he is confident the side can bounce back.

“Nothing will change for us; we’ll go in, we’ll assess the game as we do and have a really positive week on the track,” he said.

“We’ll bring that same pressure and intensity around the footy next week and see what we can do.”