He was a late inclusion but Shaun McKernan quickly found his feet in Essendon colours.

The mobile forward provided a strong physical presence for the Bombers as they fell by 11 points to North Melbourne. 

McKernan was brought into the side when Jake Carlisle failed to recover from a pinched nerve in his neck. 

“I’d been told I might be a chance,” McKernan said.

“I was an emergency so I just prepared as if I was playing.”

It’s not the first time McKernan has got a lucky break when one of his teammates has gone down.

The former Crow was taken by Essendon in the rookie draft last December and then was upgraded after the opening round when Jason Winderlich succumbed to a back injury.

McKernan arrived with 34 games to his name from his six seasons at Adelaide and immediately set about making a positive impression on his teammates.

“To earn everyone’s respect, that was the first priority when I arrived,” he said.

“Obviously to get elevated was a bonus and to play a game even more so.”

In his first match with the Bombers, McKernan showed enough to suggest his big body and mobility will be a valuable asset.

He collected 12 possessions and provided valuable relief to ruckman Tom Bellchambers.

The 24 year old also pulled in five marks but it was one that wasn’t paid that generated the most discussion. 

McKernan looked to have hung on to a mark just outside the goal square but the umpire disagreed and North Melbourne ran up the other end to score a momentum-shifting goal. 

“I thought I took it to ground to be honest yeah, I was pretty filthy,” McKernan said.

The Bombers had started brightly kicking five goals in the opening quarter but kicked only seven more followed for the remainder of the match.

“Contested ball started pretty well but then in the second and third quarter we fell away,” McKernan said.

“That’s probably where they jumped us and got some easy goals from turnovers.”

After three games in 12 days, Essendon has a nine-day break before it hosts Brisbane next Sunday.