Essendon has qualified for a club record seventh consecutive AFL finals series in unconvincing fashion, just seeing off the lowly Western Bulldogs in a match where neither team prioritised the four points.

The last thing the Bulldogs needed was a sixth win that would deprive them of a priority draft pick, while Essendon entered the final quarter knowing it could afford to lose by a few goals and still make the finals on percentage.

Safe in that knowledge, the final quarter of the Bombers' 17.11 (113) to 14.12 (96) win was pre-occupied with trying to get full-forward Matthew Lloyd to seven goals in the game.

That would have drawn him level with St Kilda's Fraser Gehrig on 90 home-and-away goals for the season and hence a fourth Coleman Medal.

But Lloyd fell agonisingly one goal short, spilling a mark in a two on one contest with just 20 seconds to play that if taken and converted would have got him the silverware.

The Dons' win nudges them into eighth spot at the expense of Fremantle, and they will play Melbourne at the MCG next Saturday in a clash of the top eight's most out-of-touch teams.

Bombers coach Kevin Sheedy, gearing up for his 19th finals campaign at the helm of Essendon, said the clash with Melbourne was one between two teams that were as closely matched as could be hoped.

"They've won 14 games, we've won 12 and they played the bottom two sides twice," Sheedy said.

"We might have been able to beat Richmond and Hawthorn again if we played them twice, so we're pretty close to each other."

Melbourne has a day's extra rest but on the flip side is coming back from Perth while the Bombers have the luxury of staying in Melbourne.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP