The Bombers trailed by 20 points in the final term, but were able to level the scores 12 minutes in and go on to win by seven points, meaning the club will not concede its top eight spot should Collingwood and Gold Coast win when the split round concludes next week.

Carlisle’s eight goals came with 12 marks, his performance coming after last week’s 19-mark game against Collingwood and without Joe Daniher for company in the forward line. Daniher suffered a small crack in his clavicle after Cale Hooker fell on him at training last week, and may miss the Bombers’ Friday night game against Sydney after their bye.

‘‘Without him we wouldn’t have won. He’s kicked eight, so without him we would have been in a lot of trouble,’’ said Thompson after the match.

‘‘You’d have to imagine that he would be in a lot of confidence, and we’re happy for him, we’re really pleased. He’s been incredible, really.

‘‘I think in coaching, as one of your skills you need the nurturing skill and the teaching gene as well, that’s what coaching is.

‘‘You don’t just coach performance, you actually develop and teach new skills based on your philosophies and your reading and your learnings along the way.

‘‘We’ve still got a lot of work to do with a lot of our other players because we’re nowhere near what our capability is as a club. I’m not sure he can keep that standard – I hope he does, it’d be great – and Joey [Daniher] is the next one, I’d like to see him kick a big back. He’s a work in progress. There’s a lot of work to do.’’

Thompson, who plans to talk with James Hird on his return from France at the end of the month so that they can discuss how the coaching set-up will work should the Bombers play finals, was pleased with how a number of senior players handled the last quarter having seen the team fall four goals behind during the third and final quarters.

Jason Winderlich, Paul Chapman and Dyson Heppell were among the influential players in the last half-hour. Heppell’s opponent, Mitch Wallis, struggled with a foot injury after cutting him out of the second and third quarters.

Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney reminded his players after the game that it was the fifth time they had lost a game this season despite being close enough to win with a handful of minutes to play, and he believed Essendon handled the last 10 minutes better than his side did.

Without downplaying Carlisle’s performance, McCartney believed his defenders allowed the Essendon forward to go one out against his direct opponent too often.

‘‘You’re not stiff when you look down at the stats sheet and they win almost everything in the last 10 minutes. Full credit to them. Did we have enough opportunities to nail the game? The answer is yes, but we’re not stiff,’’ said McCartney.

‘‘Probably the essence of the talk with the players after the game is, I think it’s game five now where with five or six minutes to go we’re right in the game, and you can take that one of two ways as a group of coaches.

‘‘It looked like a really good game. We’re pleased we were a part of that. We’re confident that our turn will come very soon, and it’s there to win.’’