THIS time the masterclass belonged to John Worsfold and his Essendon coaching team.

That tag is so often slapped on Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson, most recently after his Hawks picked flag fancy Greater Western Sydney apart in round eight.

However, it was Worsfold's Bombers who reigned supreme in Friday night's game of football chess at Marvel Stadium, winning 14.12 (96) to 11.11 (77) to renew their finals hopes.

Hawthorn slashed the margin late with three consecutive goals after falling 38 points behind 12 minutes into the final term, but never seriously threatened an improbable comeback. 

Essendon levelled its win-loss ledger (6-6) and enters a potentially season-defining fortnight against West Coast (Optus Stadium) and the Giants (Marvel Stadium) with the confidence of back-to-back victories. 

The blemish on an otherwise successful night was Jake Stringer's game-ending lower-leg injury in the third quarter, with the seriousness of it still to be determined.

Meanwhile, the Hawks suffered their seventh defeat in 12 games to again reinforce Clarkson's belief he is in charge of a "middle-of-the-road" team right now.

All-Australian midfielder Zach Merrett was excellent for Essendon, winning 25 of his 28 disposals (13 contested) to three-quarter time and amassing seven score involvements. 

Dylan Clarke claimed another scalp in a stopping job on Jaeger O'Meara, who managed nine of his 23 possessions in the last term, while speedsters Conor McKenna and Adam Saad ran their Hawthorn rivals ragged.

Key defenders Michael Hurley and Cale Hooker claimed 12 marks apiece to repeatedly repel the Hawks' ragged inside-50 entries.

The Bombers snatched the ascendancy in the second quarter after absorbing 19 inside 50s a term earlier, but it was the 45 minutes after half-time when they truly made it count.

They looked more dangerous going forward from the outset, and the damage reached the scoreboard once they began winning the clearances. 

Majors to Stringer, after marking on his shoelaces, and Shaun McKernan thanks to a slick Merrett pass, inside the first five minutes of the third quarter kicked off a five-goal term.

The last of them was a scintillating Saad dash, where he darted past opponents before a wonderful finish from just inside 50.

Essendon clearly did its homework on Hawthorn's possession-maintaining style during the bye and had a gameplan in place to answer it.

The thorn in the Bombers' plan in the first term was their early inability to win the clearances, but that was soon solved.

Essendon was seemingly willing to play on the counter-attack, often being happy to concede kicks further afield for the chance to clog up its defensive 50.

The result?

Bulk Hawthorn inside-50 entries – 35-20 at half-time – but many of them came blazing away to contests, while Conor Glass and Jarman Impey kicked long-range goals on the run.

There was also a series of low-percentage misses in the same fashion.

One or both of tall targets Mitch Lewis and Jarryd Roughead could have come in handy in the opening half, with the James Sicily experiment ending midway through the third quarter.

The Hawks' first mark inside 50 came in the dying seconds of the first half, with the returning Ben McEvoy clutching the Sherrin centimetres inside the arc.

McEvoy found Puopolo for a second moments later, and his resultant set shot fell short, only to bounce through for a goal after the half-time siren as Hurley somehow failed to touch the ball.

That left only three points the difference, but the margin flattered Hawthorn.

Impey (24 disposals and two goals) was among the few Hawk winners, with the huge ball-winning talls deceiving in their impact.

James Worpel, Ricky Henderson, Isaac Smith and Liam Shiels all won 30 or more touches, but that was partly a byproduct of the way the contest was played.

MEDICAL ROOM

Essendon: Jake Stringer sustained a lower-leg injury in the third quarter and didn't return.

Hawthorn: Paul Puopolo crashed into Patrick Ambrose in the opening quarter and took an accidental blow to the throat that took him a few minutes to recover from, but he played the match out.

NEXT UP

Essendon heads to Perth on a six-day turnaround to face a fresh West Coast on Thursday night, at least with the confidence of back-to-back victories. The Hawks will try to avoid three defeats in a row when they play a second straight Friday night game, this time against Sydney.


ESSENDON            2.2       6.7       11.11   14.12 (96)          
HAWTHORN         2.3       6.4       8.6      11.11 (77)

GOALS

Essendon: Begley 2, Fantasia 2, Langford 2, Stringer 2, Bellchambers, Guelfi, McKernan, Saad, Parish, Merrett

Hawthorn: Impey 2, Breust, Moore, Puopolo, Ceglar, Gunston, Glass, McEvoy, Scully, Henderson

BEST 

Essendon: Merrett, Hooker, Heppell, Clarke, McKenna, Hurley

Hawthorn: Worpel, Impey, Smith, Henderson, Sicily

INJURIES 

Essendon: Stringer (leg)

Hawthorn: Nil

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Fisher, Chamberlain, Meredith, Wallace