Essendon coach James Hird had that typical empty feeling after an AFL draw, unsure whether to welcome the two points or rue the lost opportunity.

But he also knew the Bombers had gained plenty of credibility after they and Carlton kicked 11.13 (79) apiece on Saturday at the MCG.

The clash was another classic between two of the league's fiercest rivals.

There were six lead changes during the last quarter in front of 78,065 fans with a couple of heart-stopping moments in the dying minutes.

It was the third draw this season, which is only four rounds old.

The game became a major test for Essendon after they lost Jason Winderlich and Courtenay Dempsey within 10 minutes of each other in the first quarter.

Winderlich and Dempsey will most likely need season-ending knee reconstructions and their departures put massive pressure on Essendon's interchange rotations for the rest of the game.

"It's a landmark day for a couple of reasons - when you get two cruciates (anterior cruciate ligament ruptures) in 10 minutes ... I've never seen that happen in footy," Hird said.

"But the way they fought it out, yeah - they've shown through the pre-season they can do it, but to show it in a real game was great."

"The players have been known as a team that's very flashy and offensive, but I think today takes a step towards really being a real footy club that grinds out results, even though it wasn't a win for us."

The Blues were left lamenting a couple of key incidents in the frenetic last few minutes, after they had recovered from four goals down early in the second term.

Carlton had threatened to blow Essendon away early in the third quarter before it became an arm wrestle.

With only a couple of minutes left, Carlton's Jeff Garlett was running into an open goal that would have sealed the win.

But Essendon defender Dustin Fletcher, the league's oldest player - he'll be 36 on May 7 - willed himself to bring down Garlett with a lunging tackle that confirmed his status as best afield.

Then, with about 30 seconds left, Carlton were trying to run down the clock and Kade Simpson kicked short on the wing.

It went out on the full and a few seconds later David Zaharakis snapped the behind that tied the scores.

Blues coach Brett Ratten admitted he would have liked to have those two moments back, but noted Garlett and Simpson were far from Carlton's worst players.

Simpson kicked three goals, the third a magnificent shot on the run that put them ahead for the last time in the match.

"At the end, our composure wasn't great," Ratten said.

"Credit to our blokes, from a character point of view, we just stuck to our task and got ourselves back in the game.

"We just didn't finish the job when we had the opportunity."

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