ESSENDON coach Matthew Knights is not closing the door on the Bombers' finals prospects, stating that upset results could see a side with 11 wins sneak into the top eight at season's end.

However, Knights said he was unsure whether the competition would allow it to happen given the unpredictable nature of the year.

The Bombers' win over the Demons on Saturday has them 12th on the table with eight wins and 10 losses; with four rounds to play, they could do enough to pinch a finals berth.

"People asked me today, you're playing the team that are on the bottom, and I said to them, 'What about last week's form line when all the top-ranked teams got beaten?'," Knights posed after Saturday's 16-point win.

"You can't take anything for granted in this league. It's too tough to do that.

"I'm not sure if it will be 11 or 12 [wins]. It's hard to look five weeks ahead and a total of 25 to 30 games that might have an impact."

When asked more specifically about his side's chances, Knights said he was simply pleased to get over Melbourne.

"It was a tough game," he said. "When we spoke during the week about Melbourne, we were endearing to the players to learn about some of these Melbourne players that are high-quality players.

"When you see Cameron Bruce and (Aaron) Davey, (Colin) Sylvia, young (Simon) Buckley, I knew when we came in today it was going to be tough.

"It was that way. At times, I thought our ball movement was a bit stagnant and we didn't have much flow. Melbourne tend to push back really hard and clog you up, and they did that effectively.

"Thankfully, we had the big fella up front in our skipper (Matthew Lloyd) who had a day out, from a marking and a goalkicking perspective.

"I thought up the other end that Henry Slattery was nearly as effective in the role he played. He stopped a lot of attacks by Melbourne."

Knights added that the Bombers got through the match relatively unscathed, with round 16 NAB AFL Rising Star nominee Kyle Reimers the only casualty.

"We believe Kyle has slightly twinged his hamstring, which is a real blow because Kyle has been very resilient this year," he said.

"I'll assume he'll miss one to two weeks at least. Apart from that, we're really clean.

"Pev (Damien Peverill) and Jobe (Watson) both copped fairly hard knocks during the game and were a bit groggy at times, but they're okay."