Essendon will square off with Box Hill in a VFL Preliminary Final after grinding their way to a 27-point win over a plucky Devils outfit in Tasmania on Saturday.

The Semi Final clash at North Hobart Oval swung wildly in momentum throughout the course of the day, with the Bombers eventually holding off Tassie's surge on the stroke of half-time and regaining the ascendancy in a brave second half.

Boasting a list teeming with AFL experience, that high-level exposure helped the Dons find their feet in the tense opening minutes, with the away side instantly looking more settled and making the most of their opportunities going forward.

As has been the case throughout most of Essendon's impressive eight-game win streak, their rock solid defensive unit has propelled their good form.

Zak Johnson's anticipation in the back half was excellent all day and he made the Devils pay by foot, going at a whopping 94 per cent efficiency from 32 disposals in a best-on-ground outing.

The pairing of Tyler Sellers and Deacon Kalpakis down back thwarted several manic entries from Tassie, with the former venturing up the ground to slot a massive team-lifting goal from outside 50 in the third term.

Will Setterfield and Elijah Tsatas were in-and-under all day, and while the Bombers as a team fell short of 300 disposals in a reflection of how often the footy was in dispute under the finals heat, they did plenty of damage forward of the ball.

Veteran Matt Guelfi produced some of his best pressure efforts of the season and stood tall with immense tackling in the forward half.

The Devils made the error of allowing Liam McMahon to get separation and even when pressed against the fence on multiple occasions for his three goals, he made his opportunities look easy.

Jayden Nguyen slammed through two goals of his own and offered plenty of lip service to the crowd in response, while Jade Gresham bobbed up with four majors to effectively ice the game late in the piece.

The Dons are dreaming big - it's been a meteoric rise for a VFL program that looked out of the finals picture at the halfway point of the campaign.

A clash with Box Hill awaits this weekend, with the winner progressing to the Grand Final.

Essendonfc.com.au will provide details as the fixture is finalised.

TASMANIA     2.2    7.7    9.11    10.14   (74)
ESSENDON     4.1    9.3   12.8    15.11   (101)

GOALS
Gresham 4, McMahon 3, Guelfi 2, Nguyen 2, Edwards 2, Cox, Sellers

BEST
Johnson, Setterfield, Sellers, Guelfi, Kalpakis, Hately