North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson hopes the struggling club's fans are seeing positives in his team's development despite a 40-point loss to Essendon compounding their woes.
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The Kangaroos outscored their opponents in two quarters of Sunday's match at Marvel Stadium and were competitive for three, but were blown away when they coughed up eight goals to two in the third term.
It left Clarkson's 0-10 team cemented to the foot of the ladder ahead of a meeting with Port Adelaide in Hobart in round 11.
But the 56-year-old was impressed with the Kangaroos winning the clearance battle (41-29), with Tom Powell and Luke Davies-Uniacke playing major roles in that area.
Clarkson pointed to key defender Wil Dawson's debut and the excitement created by first-year player Zane Duursma as positive signs for the future.
"As long as our fans are seeing our boys are having a go and there's some progress there," Clarkson said.
"We hate losing games of footy but we know it's just part of the journey for us at the current time.
"We'll just keep chipping away and hopefully both the players and our fans are the same in terms of just seeing little things along the way.
"You think it might be tough being winless at this point of the year but we've got another 13 games and that's just great for our footy club that these players get exposure to this level of footy and how they can get better.
"(It will help them) understand the standard they need to get to to be competitive in this league."
Clarkson lamented his group being beaten for contested possession by the classy Bombers and conceded they weren't anywhere near as clean with their ball use and decision-making.
Dawson had four goals kicked on him by Peter Wright as Essendon dominated territory, winning inside-50s 64-40.
In a further blow on Sunday, North lost Miller Bergman to a hamstring injury just minutes after replacing Charlie Lazzaro in a tacitcal substitution during the third term.
"When it's a soft-tissue injury like that, I can't remember one that's recovered in time to play the next week," Clarkson said.
"There's pretty significant doubt, I'd imagine, then it's just the severity of the injury."
Australian Associated Press
