Heppell, 19, lamented the poor start and high injury toll against North Melbourne that combined to cost his team the premiership points, but maintained there was no cause for alarm.
""I don't think there's anything obviously wrong. You can't really put it down to one thing,"" Heppell said of the club's run of losses.
""It's certainly not a lack of effort. Everyone's busting a gut every week, but we'll work our way out of it.
""We'll keep our heads up and keep fighting. There's no reason why we can't get back to the sort of footy we were playing earlier in the season. We won't let our heads drop,"" he said.
Essendon lost Heath Hocking (concussion) and Cale Hooker (hamstring) to injury during the match and later revealed Michael Hurley (thumb/calf) and Leroy Jetta (corked knee) had been restricted during the 21-point loss on Saturday afternoon at Etihad Stadium.
""You've got to be resilient in this situation,"" Heppell said.
""You've got to keep fighting. The boys put in a big effort, but we were really disappointed not to get the win [against North Melbourne].""
The Bombers first eight games yielded five wins and a draw after the much-celebrated return of favourite son James Hird. Despite the recent disappointing run of results, Heppell can see no reason why Essendon won't be able to recapture that form.
""There was a lot of hype at the start of the year, but we've just got to get back to the basics,"" he said.
""We don't take any of those [outside factors] into consideration. We'll just get back out on the training track and go through a few things.
