Angry North Melbourne coach Brad Scott has blamed AFL dawdling for the Kangaroos starting a player down in a match against Essendon they ended up losing by three points.

The Bombers won Saturday night's thriller at Etihad Stadium 18.14 (122) to 18.11 (119) to ease the pressure on embattled coach Matthew Knights, ending a six-game losing streak.

But Scott, whose ninth-placed side suffered what might prove a killer blow to their finals hopes, was seething at the difficulties his side faced in getting AFL advice on how to handle a pre-game injury crisis.

The Kangaroos needed to field all three emergencies, with defenders Nathan Grima (quad) and Daniel Pratt (hamstring) the initial withdrawals, replaced by first-gamer Ben Speight and Leigh Harding.

But they then suffered a last-minute blow, when Daniel Wells injured a quad at the end of the warm-up, just as the match was about to start.

With the remaining emergency, ruckman David Hale, having played VFL on Saturday afternoon, the Kangaroos asked AFL officials whether they could instead bring in Nathan O'Keefe, who was fresh and ready to go.

But Scott said it was not until 10 minutes into the match that they were told that could not happen, meaning they started the game with 21 men, before being forced to play a tired Hale.

"I felt there was extenuating circumstances. We had Nathan O'Keefe ready to go," Scott said.

"So I asked the AFL if we could bring him in and they took 10 minutes to work it out. The answer was 'we'll call you back'.

"I did make them aware that there was a game going at that stage and we were one short, but they eventually go back to us and said if you play O'Keefe you'll get a $20,000 fine."

Scott said officials at the ground phoned AFL football administration manager Rod Austin for advice, who also took too long to provide an answer.

"I don't know who Rod called, I thought Rod made the decisions," he said.

The Kangaroos coach labelled the situation "farcical", saying having already kept two emergencies out of their VFL side, they should not have had to also keep out a third and risk three players not getting a game for the weekend.

But Scott also acknowledged his players wasted chances to overcome a Bombers side, who they trailed for most of the night, before hitting the lead early in the final term, but then relinquishing it.

Essendon coach Matthew Knights was delighted with the spirit his players showed after what has been a horror patch of form, and mounting pressure, in recent weeks.

"The last three weeks has certainly not been us," Knights said.

"It's been disappointing and we haven't played with much dare or much spirit ... I said to the players after the game I really thank them for holding the club together in the last three weeks."

He said the positive from the recent trying period was that it provided an indication of "who's going to stand with us".

"(It) also gave us an understanding of who sat on the other side of the line, who's happy to ping us and who's happy to have a crack at us," he said.

Captain Jobe Watson was superb with 38 touches, nine clearances and two goals, while first-gamer Kyle Hardingham shone with four goals.

For North, captain Brent Harvey was influential all night, along with fellow midfielder Andrew Swallow.

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