John Worsfold says the ‘future of a very successful footy club’ will be on display this Sunday when the side meets Brisbane at Etihad Stadium.

The Bombers Coach will name first round draft pick Aaron Francis in the side tonight. 

He’ll become the sixth draftee to debut this season. 

“I would encourage our fans to get along,” Worsfold said.

“Our aim is to keep improving, keep building, it’s really exciting.

“Like every game you go and watch the excitement of footy is that you don’t know what the outcome is going to be. 

“But I can tell them they’re going to see Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti, Orazio Fantasia, Darcy Parish and Aaron Francis – the future of a very successful footy club.”

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Essendon fielded 11 players 23 years old or younger when they challenged Richmond last Saturday.

“It’s always tough when everything you do is around winning but we’ve used some other measures that we believe we’ve won in, as opposed to getting four points on the board,” Worsfold said.

“The excitement of the strong knit feeling within the group and the way the young players have dealt with a lot of adversity throughout the year and backed up and kept training well and I believe kept showing improvement throughout the course of the year – that’s been a win for us.” 

In three of Essendon’s last four games the side has either been in front or within two points midway through the last term.

“The last month we’ve been working hard to try and win games and we’ve really pushed sides right up until late in the last quarter,” Worsfold said.

“If we play with the same intensity and the same excitement that we’ve been playing with, I think we’re a really good show this week.” 

James Gwilt will miss this week’s match, and most likely the rest of the season, after hurting his knee against the Tigers. 

With 152 games to his name, Gwilt was Essendon’s third most experienced player last week. 

His former St Kilda teammate Brendon Goddard was criticised in the media for giving away a 50-metre penalty during the game, but Coach John Worsfold said his overall leadership this season has been impressive.

“Brendon has said he was disappointed he gave away the 50 metre penalty,” Worsfold said.

“If everything else is trying to link back to say he’s not a good leader I think it’s drawing a very, very long bow.

“I’ve been very impressed with his leadership throughout the year, his encouragement of the group and a big part of the reason the group stayed competitive is around the way he’s led them.

“He’s led from the front in terms of his performances but demanded very standards in all our training as well.”