Essendon Football Club is pleased to announce Tayte Pears has signed a new one-year deal.

It’s just reward for the 25 year-old who’s shown tremendous resilience to overcome a frustrating run of injuries.

The defender feels he turned the corner in 2015 and is looking forward to a hard summer on the training track.

“I’m excited to have re-signed with the Bombers and I thank the Club for showing faith in me,” Pears said.

“I feel like I got back to playing some consistent football in the VFL, which in turn helped me earn a senior recall in the later stages of the season.

“To get through those games, after almost two years out of the senior team, gives me confidence in my body and ability heading into 2016.

“Pre-season is only a couple of weeks away and I can’t wait to train and play under John Worsfold. He’s spoken to the group about his vision of sustained success, and as a playing group we’re all driven to improve and play more competitive football in 2016.”

After missing two years of senior football, Pears made his much awaited return against Adelaide in Round 20. And the Bomber faithful were reminded of his defensive presence in the Round 23 win over Collingwood.

Senior Coach, John Worsfold, believes Pears’ best football is still ahead of him.

“Tayte has worked extremely hard to get his body right for the upcoming pre-season, and his resilience to overcome a frustrating run of injury cannot be questioned,” Worsfold said.

“We feel that Tayte still has plenty of good football left in him, his challenge will be to drive higher standards of himself and his teammates over the course of the pre-season to ensure he can play a positive role for the team.”