Essendon smashed Richmond in the last term to win their Saturday night AFL match by 39 points at the MCG.

The Bombers trailed by nearly four goals midway through the third term before they rallied to win 15.15 (105) to 9.12 (66).

It was Essendon's first win in 10 matches at the MCG - their most recent was in May last year, also against the Tigers.

Essendon kicked eight unanswered goals from 20 minutes into the third term to seal the win and maintain eighth spot on the ladder.

Stewart Crameri starred for the Bombers with three goals and Michael Hurley kept Tigers spearhead Jack Riewoldt to only one goal despite a rib injury in the third term.

Midfielder Trent Cotchin had 27 possessions for Richmond, while Ty Vickery worked hard in the ruck.

Richmond dominated the start of the third term, kicking two goals and nearly putting Essendon out of the game as they took a 22-point lead.

Compounding the Bombers' woes, Kyle Hardingham cannoned into Hurley as he took a defensive mark.

Hurley had to leave the field a few minutes later as he struggled with sore ribs, but he returned soon after.

The Tigers could not build on their advantage and the Bombers slowly worked their way back into the match.

Angus Monfries goalled on the run from a Richmond turnover at 20 minutes and David Hille added another three minutes later to put Essendon back in touch.

Crameri had two bad misses and then former Essendon defender Bachar Houli took possession in the back pocket with less than a minute left in the third term.

As he tried to maintain possession, Houli slipped and Crameri pounced, winning a free kick and playing on to kick a crucial goal.

Essendon only trailed three points at the last change and suddenly could smell blood.

When David Zaharakis goalled in the opening minute of the last quarter, they led for the first time since 13 minutes into the second term.

They kicked another three inside the first six minutes of the last term, with Heath Hocking soaring for a mark and extending the lead to 21 points.

Richmond had a glimmer of hope until 18 minutes into the last term, when Brent Stanton gained a 50m penalty and goalled from a free kick to seal the contest.

But there were no signs of a clear Essendon win in the first term, when the lead changed five times.

Richmond led by eight points at the first break, only the second time this season they had won the opening quarter.

There was plenty of niggle throughout the game and immediately after the quarter-time siren, Vickery and Essendon opponent Paddy Ryder tangled on the boundary line.

The match review panel will certainly look at the melee that followed.

Richmond led by nine points at halftime and it was an impressive recovery from last week's 103-point hiding from Carlton.

But after kicking the last two goals of the first half and the opening two goals of the third term, Richmond paid dearly as they left the door open for Essendon's unlikely comeback.

Essendon kicked 10 unanswered goals to run over the top of Richmond, including 7.3 to three behinds in the final term.

"We didn't play our best footy tonight and I thought Richmond were very good, particularly up to about halfway through that third quarter," said Bombers coach James Hird.

"But off the back of some really good tackling in (the second half of) that third quarter, we got ourselves back into the game.

"You can't put it down to one or two things, there are a lot of things that contribute to the game.

"Definitely, we had 58 tackles after halftime and that's an outstanding number."

Essendon led the tackle count 34-30 at halftime and by the end of the game it was a whopping advantage of 89-59.

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick looked shattered post-match and was left ruing his team's inability to put Essendon away at the start of the third term.

"AFL these days is a game of chances - we didn't take ours and they took theirs," he said.

"Probably the thing that killed us at times was our lack of composure, we had control of the ball and we made a silly mistake that cost us going the other way.

"We just have to rectify that and get that out of our game.

"We're better than that, they shouldn't still be in our game."

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