Essendon coach James Hird says it's ""not all doom and gloom"" despite his team's 74-point defeat at the hands of Carlton.

The Bombers coach watched on as his side was overran in the second half at the MCG on Saturday night after sitting only seven points down at the main change.

Essendon conceded 15 goals in the second half, including eight to none in the third quarter, in Hird's biggest loss in charge of the club.

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But the first-year coach said there were still positives to take out of the loss, particularly the lessons his young and inexperienced midfield had been able to learn from Carlton's brilliant on-ball brigade, led by Chris Judd.

""We were playing some reasonable football, but losing Tayte Pears just before half-time didn’t help and it threw our structure out. Fundamentally, around the ball, we just didn’t compete well enough in the third quarter and they just beat us around the ball,"" Hird said.

""They've got an A-grade midfield and it got on top. We didn’t have the ability to defend in defence because we just didn’t have the players down there, and when they started to get their hands on the ball in the middle of the ground they really exposed our young defence.

""To lose by 12 or 13 goals is disappointing, but it also gave a lot of our younger players a lot of time in the midfield they wouldn't have got before.

""(David) Zaharakis, (Jake) Melksham, (Dyson) Heppell, and Angus Monfries got some more time in there, so it's not all doom and gloom and I think there are some real positives to take out of the game.""

The loss of Pears at half-time – he was subbed out of the game in the opening minutes of the third quarter – compounded an already weakened backline missing Cale Hooker with a hamstring injury and Dustin Fletcher, who was a late withdrawal with a leg injury.

Hird said Pears scans would determine the extent of the injury.

""He's got a knock on his lower part of his leg. We'll scan it tomorrow, and hopefully it's not a crack, but the way our injury luck is going at the moment it could be anything. We just hope it's a knock and he'll come up next week,"" Hird said.

Hird said the club was also hopeful Fletcher and captain Jobe Watson would return to face Collingwood next Sunday at the MCG, but that Heath Hocking (foot) and Michael Hibberd (hamstring) would both miss the clash.

And, while acknowledging the task the Magpies present, Hird said it was not beyond the Bombers, who have shown a propensity to rebound after disappointing defeats this year.

""We had a daunting challenge after we lost to Hawthorn (in round 14 by 65 points) and we came up against Geelong the next week,"" Hird said.

""The one thing about this group is that we haven’t played that many bad quarters through the year, but the good thing is they've responded every time they've been down.""