THE WESTERN Bulldogs' hopes of playing finals have all but faded after losing to Essendon by 49 points at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.

The Bulldogs managed a third-quarter fight back after being largely outplayed by the hard-running Bombers in the first half, but James Hird's men held their nerve and put the Dogs away, 23.12 (150) to 15.11 (101).

Brent Stanton was outstanding around the stoppages for Essendon with 39 possessions and two goals, as was his skipper Jobe Watson who finished with 12 clearances.

Barry Hall did his best to keep the Dogs alive with six goals, as did skipper Matthew Boyd, who gathered 36 disposals and eight clearances - but their efforts weren't enough to overcome their team's slow start.

The Bombers thoroughly deserved their 55-point lead early in the third quarter, but they didn't work hard enough to halt a surprising surge that saw the Dogs pile on five unanswered goals to slash that margin to 23 points.

The Bulldogs dominated for a large chunk of a term in which they had 13 more inside 50s, but hurt themselves with five behinds in succession after their goal flurry, while Essendon booted three goals to quash the challenge.

The night was further soured for the Dogs when veteran defender Dale Morris appeared to suffer a serious leg injury and was taken from the field in a stretcher with 10 minutes remaining.

Western Bulldogs                1.3      6.3       11.8       15.11 (101)
Essendon                              7.0     14.3     18.6       23.12 (150)

GOALS
Western Bulldogs: Hall 6, Higgins 2, Ward 2, Dahlhaus 2, Griffen, Howard, Giansiracusa
Essendon: Hurley 4, Davey 4, Stanton 2, Howlett 2, Zaharakis 2, Hille 2, Ryder, Reimers, Hocking, Watson, Crameri, Jetta, Monfries

BEST
Western Bulldogs: Hall, Boyd, Cross, Griffen, Dahlhaus, Ward, Higgins
Essendon: Stanton, Watson, Hurley, Davey, Fletcher, Zaharakis, Ryder

INJURIES
Western Bulldogs: Hargrave (back), Morris (leg)
Essendon: David Myers (calf) replaced in selected side by Andrew Welsh

SUBSTITUTES
Western Bulldogs: Ryan Hargrave (back) replaced by Jayden Schofield at half-time.
Essendon: Tayte Pears replaced by Andrew Welsh during the third quarter.

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Meredith, McInerney, Mollison

Official crowd: 38, 986 at Etihad Stadium

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL