Essendon VFL's round seven clash with Williamstown held positive signs for several AFL-listed Bombers.

Zach Reid was terrific in his comeback from a hamstring injury, while Jye Menzie also got through well in his first game back from a shoulder injury.

With last year's No.10 pick Nate Caddy finding his feet ahead of the ball and some talented youngsters piecing together good form, Bomber fans will be keen to see the continued development of the reserves' outfit.

VFL Senior Coach Blake Caracella reviews the performances of our 12 AFL-listed Dons and shines a light on the growth of our VFL-listed contingent.

Elijah Tsatas

31 disposals, 11 clearances, six tackles, three marks

'Lij' played on-ball and looked really strong in the clearances, doing a good job inside.

His contested ball work was really good, we'd just love him to keep finding that balance with the outside element of his game and see how he keeps tracking.

Dylan Shiel

24 disposals, six tackles, three clearances

'Shiely's had to play catch-up after missing a fair chunk of pre-season and he's getting better every week.

Like Elijah, he's playing more of an inside role and finding his fair share of the footy, working on those aspects of the game - his outside class is starting to show more and more as he keeps getting consecutive games under his belt.

Lewis Hayes

22 disposals, eight marks

'Hayesy' had his hands full with some dangerous forwards and we felt he went okay. He's building a really solid block of work back there over the last month and slotting in nicely with the other talls in defence. 

Nick Bryan

45 hit-outs, 15 disposals, six marks

'Bristle's another one who's just improved every week he's played.

He won the hit-outs pretty convincingly, found the ball and most importantly he looked threatening around the ground, taking marks and having the impact we were looking for in the early rounds of the season.

He's becoming a more complete player for us and you can see it with his growing level of impact on games.

Nate Caddy

15 disposals, six marks, two goals

It looks like 'Cads' is finding his way.

Young key forwards usually take time to adapt playing against more mature bodies and Nate's looked to be more imposing in the air, giving himself more opportunities to get his hands on a few.

We want him to keep providing that threat and creating goals for us, and it was good to see him slot a couple of his own this week.

Zach Reid

26 disposals, 10 marks

Zach was awesome.

He's missed a lot of footy, but came back and read it well in the air, used it nicely and you can just see the class he has as a high draft pick.

It's good to have him back.

Luamon Lual

19 disposals, three marks

'Luey's been pretty consistent over the past month.

You can see he's getting more comfortable at the level and did some really clever things for us on the weekend with his run - he's building his game and we'll see more from him as the weeks roll on.

Jayden Davey

15 disposals, four marks, three goals, two behinds

Jayden was much more lively this week and it was good to see.

He put himself in good positions both to win and receive the footy, but also applied really good pressure without the ball.

He looked dangerous when we were on the attack, so it was great to have him take another step in the right direction.

Archie Roberts

17 disposals, three marks, two tackles

'Robbo' played on the wing for most of the game and showed off some really nice things with his feet.

He was able to weave through traffic on a few occasions and hit targets going forward, so there was a bit to like from him again. 

Vigo Visentini

Eight disposals, eight hit-outs, two marks

Vigo's shown that he's got a lot of nous and footy smarts for someone of his age and size.

He might've only had it a handful of times, but he created a few opportunities which we couldn't take advantage of. The more he floats between ruck and forward, the better he'll get.

Tex Wanganeen

Seven disposals, three marks, two behinds

Similar to Jayden, Tex improved a lot as a pressure forward this week.

He was clean with his hands and generated opportunities for others, but was unlucky not to finish off some of his own chances.

Jye Menzie

13 disposals, three marks, one goal

You could see that 'Menz' has played his share of footy at AFL level.

He's got that touch of class and you felt like he was a chance to make things happen, even with limited opportunity.

It was good to see him back in action after the injury and he'll work his way up from here.

Finding balance

Our back six have really had to step up in the last few weeks and we've been really happy with how they've held their own.

Under pressure, they've been able to repel a lot of entries, which we saw with 'Reidy' this week and Sam Weideman at stages, and now we're seeing guys like Matt Foley, Solomon McKay and Bailey Scott do the same with their rebound game.

Those boys are building a strong connection and relationship down there and it's becoming more visible in their performance.

We've also been loving Jack Peris' game - he might go under the radar, but for sheer pressure and selfless play, he's been massive for us. 

Role switches

The move of Campbell Gray forward has presented us with some good depth and different options.

Given he hadn't played any footy at all as a forward up to this stage, it's impressive how quickly he's picking things up in the space of just a few weeks.

Campbell's a quick learner in general and that's been a big benefit to him trying a new role.

He booted two goals in his second crack at it against Collingwood and kicked another three on the weekend, so he'll be a good one to watch in the coming weeks.