Essendon coach Matthew Knights will urge his team not to let the excitement of their huge AFL victory over Carlton distract them from their long-term focus.

The Bombers produced a stunning performance at the MCG on Friday night, storming back from a 14-point deficit late in the first half to trounce the Blues 21.10 (136) to 9.13 (67).

It came despite the loss of star midfielder Jobe Watson, who injured his ankle midway through the second quarter.

The win shored up the Bombers' spot in the eight, taking them to a 7-6 record compared to Carlton's 6-7, with two wins against the Blues from as many matches this season.

It is a remarkable position, given at the start of the season Carlton were widely tipped as a top four side, while few gave Essendon any chance of playing finals.

In an AFL poll of the captains of all 16 clubs in the week leading up to the opening round, the skippers of all 15 opposing sides tipped the Blues to make the eight, with only one predicting Essendon would do so.

But while the Bombers look capable of disproving those forecasts, Knights said his young side could not afford to get carried away after their best performance of the season.

"We probably just have to talk about 'Listen, we're seven wins, six losses, but the reality is that's about the middle (of the ladder) at the moment," Knights said.

"That was a great win in isolation but this game's its own entity and it doesn't guarantee anything for next week.

"That's what I've got to keep urging the group, to focus on the task at hand and to be resourceful and to try to win at all costs next week.

"But more importantly when we go back to training this week to continue to try to develop and get our skills better and keep working on our game.

"That's most important, the long-term vision is still really important, that we keep practising our gamestyle so eventually when we're a more consistent team and we've got bigger bodies and we can run a bit harder, hopefully it all comes to fruition."

But Knights said the victory, in front of a crowd of 83,407 people, was "invaluable" experience of a finals-type atmosphere, something they can expect again when they meet Collingwood at the MCG next Friday night.

While Knights aims to keep his team grounded, Blues coach Brett Ratten has the opposite issue after what he admits was clearly Carlton's worst game of the year.

"We're not putting this way and saying forget about it, because we'll review it to the nth degree, but we need to just talk to our players about what they can do well and that we're a better team than that," Ratten said.

"We have to learn some lessons, because we had an opportunity, a Friday night, and to let ourselves down and our supporters and maybe the opportunity that was in front of us, we've got some hard work now."

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