November 11th

Day two.

The first week of Essendon's 2027 preparations continued today, with the approach already looking vastly different to the same point in the previous two pre-seasons.

While the focus on building the running base has some similarities to 2025, the drills, education and expectations are already at a much higher standard.

Almost four hours into the new program on track, things are already looking far more promising than in the countless sessions I've witnessed over the past few years.

Who’s here.

There were slightly fewer of the main list on the track today compared to Monday, when the majority of the senior list were out and about on day one.

Only Archer May was missing from the first-to-fourth-year group two days ago, and once again he wasn’t part of today’s session, while Sullivan Robey has stuck to the boundary on both days.

Archie Perkins had his first run after being absent on day one, with Peter Wright sighted later in the morning and Darcy Parish away once again.

The senior core of Mason Redman, Will Setterfield, Sam Durham, Nick Bryan, Xavier Duursma, Zach Reid and Ben McKay surprisingly completed everything on Monday, but none were there today.

Koby Bewick is expected to get an early taste of an AFL pre-season over the months ahead, and today he was joined by next year’s NGA prospect Mustafa Darwish and a recovering Blake Justice. Both Bewick and Darwish joined in with the others for the majority of the second half of the morning.

Nic Martin, Archie Roberts and Kyle Langford spent most of the morning running lap after lap, with Harrison Jones the only other player away from the main group. He appeared to have no issues as he was coached at times on his forward craft, with running patterns and repetitive leads confirming his defensive experiment is over. Thankfully.

So obvious.

The immediate thing that jumps out at you once the players are either in their groups or in situational match simulation is how many coaches are out on the ground and, importantly, how active they are.

Under the Brad Scott era, too much fell to too few, with most of the work observed from too far away, if there were any other coaches on hand at all.

When split into skills development and specific learning requirements around roles, you rarely see fewer than three coaches either involved in the drill or pulling players aside to discuss both the positives and negatives of their work.

Feedback is almost immediate, with the assistant and development coaches right in the thick of the action.

Mark McVeigh has no hesitation in getting his hands dirty, wrestling with the forwards but, importantly, passing on his experience in that role to Isaac Kako, Rhys Unwin and Hussein El Achkar. The focus was on getting their work done early to the body of their matchup to get them unbalanced, giving themselves time to read the drop of the high ball.

John Longmire also took the group as a whole on multiple occasions to get his points across, while regularly pulling players such as Cillian Bourke aside to work through some of the basic fundamentals during drills.

Brent Stanton has always been one whose voice can be clearly heard throughout a session, but Daniel Pratt is just as loud and quick to make his point when needed.

Let’s go.

All up, a slightly shorter session than Monday’s two-hour version, but much more informative from my point of view.

On arrival, the cones were already set out, along with black painted lines simulating lanes, and it immediately brought a smile to my face.

After the usual warm-up runs, with captain Andrew McGrath a constant presence in motivating his teammates to push all the way to the end, the group split into two distinct drills. One centred around handball, the other around rebounds and re-entries, with both concentrating on shape.

In Monday’s review, I wrote about Essendon’s tendency, far too frequently, to get drawn into the source like dogs chasing a ball. Today’s ball movement, together with the painted lanes, showed me that every effort will be made to address this issue.

Once the groundball was won, handballs went wide, forward or both, because players held their space (stayed in their lanes) and were in viable and dangerous positions to receive, with the width of the wave continuing rather than collapsing in.

When it came to defending wide rebound exits, the players were set up in layers to provide multiple ‘walls’ to break through rather than one. This also gave a teammate the option to run past for a handball receive off an intercept, then either bring the ball back through the corridor to another teammate in their lane or go inside 50 on a 45-degree angle towards the open side from where the ball had originally come.

These lanes will provide multiple reference points for a young list.

They can help with defending the switch to the open side, something Geelong have mastered so well in recent years, and changing direction from the boundary back through the middle of the ground, much like Scott Pendlebury did for Collingwood during their successful run.

They also provide a reference for forwards to separate to offer a consistent target as the ball comes from different areas of the ground. Fremantle’s trio of talls have shown how effective this can be, with each maintaining their own running lane and providing the kicker with a clear option without getting in the way of a teammate’s lead.

After a 15-minute warm-down of goal kicking under fatigue, the inexperienced players and small forwards Isaac Kako, Hussein El Achkar, Jayden Nguyen, Rhys Unwin and Zak Johnson, along with NGA prospect Mustafa Darwish, stayed back for what I believe would have been their first lesson in executing AFL-standard tackles. For some, it’s about time.

Last year, Essendon ranked 18th for effective tackles and opposition possessions per tackle, and was the second easiest team to break from a tackle, ahead of only Richmond. It is no surprise, then, to see 2000 premiership player Mark Johnson rejoining the club to teach better techniques, using the experience he has gained through jiu-jitsu.

Even with the contact restrictions placed on clubs at this point of the year, the simple things ‘Johno’ taught were a welcome sight.

Getting low into position to tackle, wrapping the arms around the opponent and securing the hold by grabbing your own wrist are basic techniques, but after seeing so little attention given to this area in the past for such a young list, it was pleasing to see.

I like it.

While it may not have been as exciting or spectacular as past training sessions I’ve been to, today’s gave me some confidence that the coaches have a good handle on where the list is at and what’s required.

Go Bombers!

Another big thank you to The Bombers Blog supporter Rick Edwards for providing footage. For more video highlights, another detailed report on today’s session and his 2026 draft analysis ahead of next week’s draft, search for Rick Edwards on Patreon.

A big thank you to track watcher and The Bombers Blog supporter Charlie, who continues to share his photos with me. For more photos, head to https://x.com/charliedons?s=11&t=L4mpm7shJJYGHL-jgpWWBw