Essendon counterpart Brad Scott was relieved after his side broke two negative streaks – 13 defeats by Richmond, and four losses in the past month.

"I think we've been building the belief over a fair period of time. We've been really pleased with our running numbers over the course of the season, and while particularly the last month we've played some good footy without getting the result, we've certainly built some belief in our players that we can run out games pretty well," Scott said.

"I think it was really important (win) on two fronts. One, there's only so long you can talk about effort and playing well. Coaches don't like to talk about the result, because it's the process and system you put in place to get the result, but it becomes hard to keep pushing a message when you're not getting that result.

"But I would never underestimate what Essendon fans have gone through over the last decade, and that streak since 2014, it's been hard for them. I spoke to the players out on the ground post-game, and the presentation had been done, and you look around and the Essendon fans are still there.

"As I said to the players, that's partly because they've gone through a fair bit over the past decade, so make sure we get around and thank them for sticking with us. Hopefully they'll be really proud of the players today."

Scott was full of praise for skipper Zach Merrett, who won the Yiooken Award for his 39-disposal performance.

"As a kid growing up watching Michael Voss play, I thought, 'gee this guy is a generational player', but usually you get disappointed when you see them up close. Then when I went up and saw him, I thought, 'wow, he's better than I thought he was'.

"Merrett fits in that category in terms of, I knew he was a good player, but he's got aspects of his game that I wasn't aware of.

"His defensive pressure, he's got a lot of capability. I knew he was a very good player, but he's a better player than I thought he was. And that's unusual, because usually when you see players up close, you see some of the flaws, but he's got an unbelievable will to win.

"Zach got his just reward tonight."