Suns thrash Bombers to lock in historic finals berth

The 95-point win - a club record - relegated the Western Bulldogs, who had been holding onto hope since a Sunday loss, to ninth.

And their margin of victory easily boosted the Suns' (15-8) percentage above Hawthorn's, meaning they'll travel to Perth to play Fremantle next weekend in the club's first finals game since their 2011 AFL admission.

Back-to-back losses left the Suns needing a win to avoid what would have been a catastrophic finals miss.

A seven-goal first term eased the nerves though, Ben King (career-high seven goals) the early source and fellow All Australian squad members Noah Anderson (34 disposals, 12 clearances, three goals) and Matt Rowell (31 touches, eight tackles, two goals) dominating.

Much-loved ruckman Jarrod Witts iced the cake with a long-range goal after the siren to trigger joyful celebrations.

"Relieved … not going to lie it's been a pretty hard three weeks," Suns coach Damien Hardwick said. 

"The way the players responded … the motivation was always there. 

"It was getting them to understand that we are well and truly capable or more importantly giving them permission that it's okay to win.

"We felt a bit tight in the last two weeks, didn't handle our moments.

"We put that to bed tonight, got the monkey off the back a bit."

It was the injury-hit Bombers' 13th consecutive loss.

Daniel Rioli (leg) and Bailey Humphrey (knee) both impressed in timely returns from injury, their efforts helping the Suns comfortably boost their percentage to demote Hawthorn to eighth.

The Suns were sharp early, a staggering 12 inside-50 marks a sign of their first-quarter dominance.

They didn't truly cash in until late in the term though, King finding joy leading back to his midfielders to kick their first three goals.

Skipper Anderson had a quick-fire double, his second a brilliant checkside effort after a neat stripping tackle.

Ben Long benefited from a soft off-the-ball 50m penalty to kick the Suns' fifth and Rowell completed his prolific quarter with a spearing goal just before the buzzer.

Rioli's confident strike from 50m midway through the third quarter and King's 67th goal this season - a new Suns record - were the nails in the Bombers' coffin. 

They then filled their boots in the final term to beat the previous record 87-point thumping of West Coast that began their season.

Essendon, dealing with a 15-strong injury list, lost Matt Guelfi (calf) in the second quarter.

Veteran ruckman Todd Goldstein then followed him to the rooms with concussion as the hits kept coming for Brad Scott's men.

"We limped to the line," Scott said.

"Tonight it was a case of not just who wasn't there, but the guys out there were struggling (with niggles).

"But the young players never complained, playing important roles and at times they didn't look out of place."