The good signs keep coming for Essendon supporters after James Hird's men came through a tough test against West Coast to win by 16 points at Etihad Stadium.

Essendon's 16.10 (106) to West Coast's 12.18 (90) victory was their fourth for the season, lifting the Bombers into third place on the AFL ladder while the Eagles drop three spots to 10th.

The Bombers were outgunned early, trailing by 15 points at quarter-time and two goals at half-time.

But they recovered with a six-goal third term and held West Coast goal-less to take a 24-point advantage into the last quarter.

West Coast outscored the Bombers three goals to two in the last quarter with the result not in doubt.

Midfielder Jobe Watson had 31 possessions including 11 in the vital third term to kick-start Essendon's comeback and Kyle Reimers and Stewart Crameri kicked three goals each.

However Reimers was booked for tripping and 202cm forward Tom Bellchambers could face scrutiny from the Match Review Panel for a high bump on West Coast's Adam Selwood.

"It's a sign of a side that wants to go somewhere," Hird said.

"West Coast came out and they were terrific and it's just a great effort by the boys to fight back.

"All the indicators that we have in the first half were terrible.

"It shows great characters that the guys can win when they probably didn't play their best football in the first quarter."

Hird and Eagles coach John Worsfold both said the big difference in the third quarter was Essendon started to dominate possession.

Eagles rover Daniel Kerr had 28 possessions, turning back the clock after three injury-interrupted seasons. But Kerr's influence faded after 14 touches in the first quarter.

"Kerr was getting away from us. He had 10 possessions in the first part of that first quarter and Heath (Hocking) went on to him and probably closed him down a bit," Hird said.

"Today was a another step in our improvement because ... they beat us early and we were able to get on top of them after a while. That was a really good sign.

"If they keep learning and keep doing things better every week then I'm not sure where we'll end up, but hopefully it will be somewhere good."

Hird said he would consider changes because of the short turnaround before Saturday's Gabba clash with the win-less Brisbane, while Worsfold's Eagles face Fremantle on Sunday in the derby.

"We've now lost three games against pretty good opponents (including Sydney and Hawthorn) and we've played okay," Worsfold said.

"We don't want to just keep playing okay and losing.

"We need to win some of these tough games against good opponents and Fremantle are right up there with the best. There's no doubt they're going to play in the finals this year."

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