John Worsfold is the right man to lead Essendon through one of its most unique seasons according to former AFL Coach Robert Shaw. 

The Bombers open their season this Saturday against Gold Coast. 

Worsfold was appointed Senior Coach in October and led the Club through the draft and trade periods where 11 new players were added to the list, before a further ten recruits were signed in the new year. 

“A pre-season set in stone with established players has had to change very quickly – it’s unprecedented,” Shaw said. 

“They’ve got a really experienced leader, they’ve got a really good stabiliser of the Club. 

“He’s going to do as much off the field as he will on the field in developing the Club culture – redeveloping, re-establishing the Club culture which is so important – and also having a very strong and methodical game plan for this new side.” 

Worsfold will be surrounded by one of the most experienced coaching panels in the competition. 

Mark Harvey, Guy McKenna and Mark Neeld have all coached AFL teams.

Matthew Egan has built up an impressive resume that included taking charge of the final three games last season, while Hayden Skipworth has led the Bombers VFL program throughout the transition to a stand alone side.

Worsfold brings a premiership and 264 games as West Coast’s main man.

“What you’ve got there is a leader of a coaching group that is very experienced,” Shaw said.

“(Mark) Harvey, (Guy) McKenna, Mark Neeld – they’ve all got an enormous amount of experience in different circumstances.

“Football is challenging.  They’ve all been to the top as players and coaches, but they’ve also been to the bottom, which is a great learning experience.”

The Bombers enter the home and away season after a NAB Challenge series that saw them register one win and two big losses.

Shaw said he was excited by some of the new roles undertaken by the Bombers younger players.

“The introduction of different faces into the backline like (Orazio) Fantasia, that was interesting, to try and get some pace and some run,” he said.

“I really like the move of (Kyle) Langford into the midfield.  I think that’s going to be important in his own development and also for the team to add depth to the midfield.

“There is that group that has been there for two or three years that I’m really interested in following because they’ve got to be developed as senior players.

“As my old Coach Kevin Sheedy once said ‘always play your next 100 game players’.”

Robert Shaw is a former AFL Coach and was an Assistant Coach at Essendon during the Club’s last premiership season in 2000.

He’ll provide weekly previews, reviews and feature articles throughout the season.