Essendon coach Matthew Knights admits he made a mistake in the way he expressed his disappointment with the umpiring in Sunday's AFL loss to Melbourne.

The Bombers gave up seven goals through 50m penalties, with those and other decisions prompting Knights to glare in the umpires' direction during the final break.

He also vented his frustrations in his post-match press conference.

But, after since speaking with umpires boss Jeff Gieschen, he was apologetic.

"On reflection, as a leader of the football club I don't think the actions at three-quarter time befitted that role as a leader," Knights said.

"I definitely shouldn't have looked out towards the umpires because I have good relations with those guys.

"And also in the press conference, definitely, after the game, I raised some isolated incidents or decisions at the time.

"That's not the forum either - if you do that you do it behind closed doors.

"So probably on both fronts, from my perspective, I got it wrong and I'm happy to put my hand up in regards to that."

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