Billy Jennings says following the Bombers this year is surreal. He has a name for the experience - Zen footy. "You go to games with no expectations."

Billy has three seats at Etihad for Essendon home games that, in my view, are the best seats in the house: on the fence, right forward pocket. Last Saturday morning, he rang and offered me one for the match between the Bombers and ladder leaders North Melbourne.

Loss, but no loss of heart: Essendon fans and coach John Worsfold after the North Melbourne game. Credit:Getty Images

Essendon didn't have a goal by half-time. The word ran through the crowd that it was the Bombers' lowest half-time score since 1959. Later, that was backdated to 1915. But, even at that low point, the Essendon supporters were still cheerful. Mostly, somewhere in a footy crowd, you hear dark mutterings, some supporter exploding about particular players and what he hates about them. There was none of that from the Essendon supporters I sat among.

Instead, I heard humour. When Orazio Fantasia scored Essendon's first goal in the third minute of the third quarter, a big male voice behind us boomed: "Watch out Kangas! We're coming!" When Mason Redman kicked their second about five minutes later, he cried: "Hate to lose it from here Kangas!" And when Joey Daniher slotted another in the 27th minute, he was back on air: "Look out, North. Stranger things have happened!"