However you view the trials and tribulations of the Essendon Football Club over the past five years, it's impossible to deny the torment their fans have endured.

But Bombers fans were filled with pride on Sunday, as their team defeated Fremantle by 15 points at Etihad Stadium. Those same fans indulged in an outpouring of emotion for their players, not least retiring champion Jobe Watson, who has most likely played his final game of football in Melbourne.

The win was tough, despite the margin looking somewhat comfortable. Essendon led by 32 points at three-quarter time but allowed the Dockers to get within eight points early in the final term.

Luckily the Bombers responded in a performance that secured the club their first finals appearance since 2014 and capped a remarkable rise from wooden spoon winners in 2016 to top eight finishers in 2017.

While that was a wonderful achievement the Essendon fans cherished, it seemed Sunday afternoon was more about their former captain and club icon Watson.

Watson's mother, his sister and his girlfriend were interviewed on the ground before the bounce while thousands of Essendon fans held cardboard cut-outs of his face to turn Etihad Stadium into a "sea of Jobes".

That was the way in the midfield early on too as Watson collected four clearances and 10 disposals by the early stages of the second quarter.

His fifth clearance, brought on by a nicely measured run behind ruckman Tom Bellchambers, led to a Zach Merrett goal in a piece of midfield timing that reminded everyone of how wonderful a presence Watson had been around the contest through his career.

Spurred on by Watson's fast start, Essendon's midfield dominance was the theme of the first half when they won nine more clearances than Fremantle.

The Bombers led by 20 points on three occasions in the first half, including at half-time, but the Dockers managed their own flurry of goals on multiple occasions to ensure Essendon didn't get too far ahead.

Essendon looked much too quick and slick for the Dockers on the outside but their efficiency going inside 50 let them down all afternoon, save for a dominant stretch in the third term.

As quickly as the Dockers again brought the margin back to eight points in the third quarter through Nat Fyfe, Brennan Cox and Tommy Sheridan goals, Essendon kicked five in a row to open up a 38-point lead. It was a volley of majors that ultimately ended the contest.

Two of those five were scored by midfielder Merrett, whose four goals for the afternoon, on top of his dominant midfield performance, will surely secure him three votes in a Brownlow Medal count he is ineligible to win.

John Worsfold's men got the win despite missing a bunch of important players including Michael Hurley, Orazio Fantasia and Cale Hooker, who was injured in the warm up and replaced by Heath Hocking. Hocking had only played one game in 2017 before Sunday (round three against Carlton).

He ended up kicking an important pair of goals in the third and final quarters, the latter to break Fremantle's run of five goals on the trot.

The Bombers should be concerned about how they continually let the Dockers back into the match. They seemed to stop on numerous occasions throughout the afternoon, the most concerning was their near-capitulation to let Fremantle back within eight points in the final quarter.

From the outside it appears the demons of their last gasp losses to Brisbane and Sydney are not yet totally banished given the way they jittered at times on Sunday.

Essendon will also need their injured trio back fit and firing to do any damage in the finals, making the controversial pre-finals bye a blessing.

James Kelly, the other retiring Bomber for whom there was no special face cut-outs, was also important. The former Geelong triple-premiership man was composed along the half back line and helped set Essendon's tempo all afternoon.