THREE players have been sent to hospital and seven in total injured after Dreamtime at the 'G turned into a horror show for Essendon and Richmond.

The Bombers have been worst affected, with skipper Andy McGrath and Archie May sent to hospital due to a broken jaw and potential broken ribs respectively.

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Matt Guelfi's night ended in the opening minutes with a hamstring injury, Sam Durham suffered a concussion, while Jye Caldwell played out the game with an ankle/syndesmosis injury suffered in the first quarter.

Richmond's key forward stocks have taken a hit, after Jonty Faull was concussed and Tom Lynch also sent to hospital for scans on his larynx, losing his voice in the second quarter but still able to breathe freely.

"It's probably hard to separate the performance from the circumstances, but I mean in terms of the game, we were just on the hop the whole time, given right at the start we had to shuffle the deck chairs a fair bit," Essendon coach Brad Scott said after the 18-point loss.

"Probably the second half was where we thought we could get back into the game. We kicked 1.6 in the third quarter with reasonable control of the game. It's obviously extremely disappointing not to get it done, but there are always things you think, they're positives, but it's hard to talk about positives for us right now. We're in a situation we don't want to be in, and we have to keep fighting. At the end of the day, no one cares, but given the circumstances, the players fought to the end."

Caldwell was forced to play on to ensure the Bombers had a rotation, while McGrath appears to have suffered a significant break, and has some dental work in his future.

"We had none on the bench, had to push [Caldwell] forward and the doctors – I wanted to make sure there was no risk, he was in a fair bit of pain," Scott said. 

"We're not shying away from the challenges we have in front of us, but it's hard tonight to not feel this sense of déjà vu of the last 18 months, of just getting guys on the park, to build something and show improvement, when you're just throwing guys from half-back to half-forward to the goalsquare to onball to just patch it together. We lost control of the game in the second quarter a bit when we were just a mess, we literally had guys coming off and we had to get control back in the game. 

"[McGrath] is terrible. When you break your jaw and a tooth comes out in the incident, and he's got a pretty noticeable crack in his jaw you can see and feel, it's not a good one. I'm not diagnosing it, but that one's pretty obvious. Sometimes you can put a plate in it and they can come back pretty quickly, but I'm not sure about that one."

Richmond coach Adem Yze was full of admiration for Lynch, his "godfather" of the forward line.

"I'll tell you what he is, he's a tough bugger, and he's a leader of our footy club for a reason. We thought he was going to hospital at half-time, but he didn't want to, he wanted to play for 'Shorty' (Jayden Short's 200th game)," Yze said.

"He couldn't talk, he's hurt his throat. So we don't know how bad it is, it was obviously OK and there was no risk in hurting it anymore, it was just around his voice. 

"It's funny, he's the godfather of our forward line, and we need him to talk and lead, so we put it on our younger forwards to shoulder that load because he wasn't able to do that for the rest of the game. His contest and aerial power was exactly what we needed. He got through the game, and now he's gone to hospital for scans and precautions."

The Tigers set the tone through the middle of the ground, taking advantage of the wounded Bombers and seeing off a third-quarter fightback.

"The third quarter was a little bit scratchy, but when you put on a four-quarter performance that you're proud of, you smile whether you win, lose or draw," Yze said.

"There were times within those games previously where we just fell away, but tonight we set the tone. Our leaders were terrific at the start of the game. We knew we needed to start well, we didn't last week, and we knew we had a lot to play for, the occasion and one of our greatest teammates to play at this footy club, in Jayden Short. 

"There was a lot to play for, and to see their attitude and intent in the first quarter, I knew we were going to fight through no matter what."

Despite Faull – and possibly Lynch – being unavailable for next round's match against Sydney, Yze is confident the Tigers will have enough players to field a squad, with four AFL-listed players named in the VFL this weekend, and another three due back next week.