Essendon have taken a giant step towards a debut AFLW finals appearance after holding off a persistent Richmond outfit to win a fierce contest by 17 points.
In just their second AFLW season, the Bombers sit 5-2 and will finish the round no lower than sixth after a critical victory over the more-fancied Tigers at Ikon Park.
Richmond opened the scoring through Emelia Yassir just 26 seconds into Saturday night's Indigenous Round match, but the Bombers powered ahead from there to win 8.5 (53) to 5.6 (36).
Essendon shocked the Tigers with four first-quarter goals as co-captain Bonnie Toogood and dynamic forward Daria Bannister slotted majors in a minute of each other.
"It was a crucial (match)," Toogood told the Seven Network.
"I had a chat with 'Woody' (coach Natalie Wood) before the game and I was like 'I'm pretty nervous for this, this means a lot for our season'.
"It's really pleasing we got the goals we did against a really tough opposition.
"We don't (talk about finals yet) because we're just looking for improvement each week."
Despite copping a hard tag from former Carlton teammate Sarah Hosking, Bombers star Madison Prespakis was still influential with 24 possessions, six clearances and a goal.
But Prespakis will have a nervous wait to learn if she is cited by the match review officer after laying a potential dangerous tackle on Richmond star Monique Conti.
The Bombers' result was soured somewhat after Bannister left the field late in the final quarter with a suspected knee injury.
Bannister has endured a wretched run with injury, with the 24-year-old missing the Western Bulldogs' premiership in 2018 after rupturing her ACL in that season.
Yassir was brilliant for the Tigers with three goals, but did spend some time off the field in the second-half getting her ankle checked out.
As always, Conti was prolific and finished with a game-high 27 possessions.
Essendon should take care of lowly West Coast next week before finishing off the home-and-away season with winnable matches against Carlton and Gold Coast.
The Bombers will need to win at least two of those games to be assured of finishing inside the top-eight but could still sneak in with just one victory.
Richmond have slumped to 3-4 and are in danger of missing the finals after finishing in the top-four last season before they were knocked out in straight sets.
