Essendon Interim Coach Matthew Egan says the Club’s move to a standalone VFL side in recent seasons is helping fast-track the development of the young players on the list.

The Bombers VFL team begins their finals campaign this Sunday against Casey.

“They’ve been sensational this year,” Egan said.

‘We’ve got some great VFL players that have been excellent.

“(James) Polkinghorne, (Kyle) Hardingham who are educating them on the game.

“Their development has been great and hopefully they go deep in to the finals.” 

Egan played for and spent time on the Geelong VFL side’s coaching panel before moving to the Bombers. 

The Cats maintained a standalone VFL side when most other teams turned to alignments.

“I’ve seen it for a few years here now and obviously at Geelong and it does fast track your development with the young players.

“You get to play them in the positions you want to play them in.

“Last week for example we knew that we wanted to give Kyle (Langford) more time in the midfield and straight away he goes on-ball so we can play him in those positions.

“Guys like Elliott Kavanagh who has played a fair bit in the VFL – you can try him in different spots, on the wing, half forward.” 

Mark Corrigan will Coach the VFL side this Sunday with Paul Corrigan and Hayden Skipworth fulfilling duties with the AFL side. 

The match is at North Port Oval and begins at 11:40am.