Western Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade praised his team's physical and mental ability to overcome the competition's best third-quarter side in a 33-point thumping of Essendon at Etihad Stadium on Friday night.

Trailing by eight points at half-time, the Bulldogs took control with a six-goal-to-two third term.

"We knew at half-time that Essendon was the best third-quarter team in the competition," Eade said.

"So we had spoken about that. That was a challenge for our players and their levels of fitness."

"We kicked six goals in that third quarter and were able to keep it going in the last quarter. That was full credit to our guys."

Mitch Hahn kicked three of his five goals in the pivotal third quarter as the Bulldogs set up their 11th win of the season - and a date with St Kilda next Saturday at Etihad Stadium.

"We were close to the best last-quarter team in the competition and their last quarters are still pretty good, so we had spoken about a challenge of not only our fitness levels but our mental ability to be able to push while fatigued," Eade said.

"It's one thing being fit but it's really being able to apply. I thought our players answered that challenge very well."

Key defenders Brian Lake and Tom Williams were superb, with Lake largely blanketing Matthew Lloyd by restricting the Bombers skipper to just two goals - all in the last quarter.

Williams silenced Scott Lucus, while the likes of Ryan Hargrave and Dale Morris were also impressive.

"I thought all of our back six were terrific," Eade said.

The Bombers began impressively against a Bulldogs side that had won only six first quarters heading into this clash.

But a change of tactics midway through the opening term ultimately proved pivotal.

"I thought in the end we attacked them deep which we wanted to do," Eade said.

"We sent out a message halfway through the first quarter - we (had) just wanted to be precise and turned the ball over. Once we started to attack deep we were able to mark the ball."

Brad Johnson (33 possessions), Matthew Boyd (29) and Adam Cooney (28) were instrumental in pumping the ball long.

The Bulldogs have every reason to feel they can slay the Saints next week, having won eight of their past 10 matches - with the two losses against Geelong (two points) and Collingwood (one point).