Essendon has kicked 10 unanswered goals from late in the third quarter to surge past Richmond by 39 points at the MCG on Saturday night.

The Tigers mounted a spirited challenge until midway through the third term, but went missing as the Bombers dug deep to rattle home with a withering burst of 10 unanswered goals to seal the 15.15 (105) to 9.12 (66) win.

Essendon had made just one change to the team that shocked undefeated Geelong last weekend, while the Tigers elected to make two alterations to the timid team that got hammered into submission by Carlton.

But Damien Hardwick promised last week's 103-point drubbing would be instantly consigned to history, never to be spoken of at Punt Road again, and his team played like it early.

The Tigers had won just one opening quarter from 14 games leading into Saturday night's clash, but they booted five goals to Essendon's three to get off to a rare good start.

The discipline and work rate evident during the Bombers' upset of the ladder leading Cats wasn't nearly as prevalent during the first two-and-a-half quarters of this match.

But 23 points down 16 minutes into the third quarter, James Hird's men mustered a telling resurgence.

When Stewart Crameri caught Bachar Houli napping deep in defence to boot his third the margin was back to three points at the last break.

As encouraging as the Tigers had been after last week's disappointment, the memory of that early endeavour was completely obliterated by the manner in which they laid down in the last.

David Zaharakis' goal less than a minute in gave the Bombers back the lead and six more goals followed as Richmond capitulated to allow Essendon its first win at the MCG since the Dreamtime at the 'G win against Richmond in round nine of last season.