Essendon moved back into the AFL top eight with a comfortable 48-point win over bottom side Melbourne at Etihad Stadium on Friday night.

Fullback Dustin Fletcher made a great return from injury and forward Scott Lucas continued his turnaround in form as Essendon won 19.17 (131) to 13.5 (83), before 45,740 fans.

But the report of experienced midfielder Mark McVeigh, for striking Melbourne's Jared Rivers, soured the night for Essendon, who are in eighth spot with a 6-6 win-loss record, with big games to come.

McVeigh was booked after he lashed out at Rivers during a melee late in the third quarter, just when Essendon had the game safe and coach Matthew Knights was hoping his players would keep themselves out of trouble.

"We'd love to have him available for Carlton and Collingwood, the big games ahead, so it would be disappointing if he was rubbed out," Knights said.

Essendon's win jumped them from 11th into the eight and bumped reigning premiers Hawthorn out of the top half of the ladder.

Melbourne (1-11) suffered an eighth-straight defeat.

Essendon had things their own way for most of the night after booting five of the first six goals, but suffered a major scare when the Demons crept within four points just before half-time.

But Lucas played a major part in steadying the Dons with the last goal of the first half and the first of the second.

He finished with three goals, after four in round 11, making amends for his disappointing start to the season.

Fellow veteran Fletcher was also impressive in his first game since returning from a leg injury suffered in round six, while midfielder Andrew Welsh finished with 25 disposals in his comeback since the leg injuries he suffered in the pre-season.

Melbourne kicked three goals in 10 minutes in the second quarter to get close, but they fell into their old habits during the third term, when Essendon booted seven goals to one.

"To win by 48 points and get game time through Welsh, McVeigh, Fletcher, (Brent) Prismall and (Kyle) Reimers was a real positive for us because you do run a bit of a risk when you bring that many players back in that haven't played a lot of footy," Knights said.

Melbourne had encouraging signs from two young forwards, as last year's No.1 draft pick Jack Watts kicked the first two goals of his career, and debutant Liam Jurrah bagged the goal of the night, after he flew over the back of two opponents and got his foot to the ball as he hit the ground.

But Demons coach Dean Bailey was disappointed with the gulf between his side's second and third quarters, when they made bad mistakes and applied little defensive pressure.

"It's disappointing we can't continue that (the form they showed in the second), we can't continue to play like that for long periods of time," he said.

"The players are trying to play like that for as often as they can, but a couple of mistakes and we became a little bit hesitant with the ball in the third quarter ... and when you turn the ball over it just costs you."

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