This time last year Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti was preparing for a VFL finals campaign, unsure if his AFL dream would ever be realised.

But 12 months on he can reflect on a season that has seen him run out for Essendon on 21 occasions and culminated in a four-goal performance against Carlton at the MCG in the final match.

“He has been remarkable,” Essendon Coach John Worsfold told Triple M.

‘There is a lot of people when I first was appointed that mentioned him and said this kid plays in the VFL and he’s a bit of a fan favourite in the VFL – he hadn’t really been consistent or dominated but they saw something in him.

“Then he came and sat down with me and introduced himself and said ‘I really want to play AFL footy’.

“Straight away you could see that he meant it.

“He put all of the things into place to get himself there and he’s been great this year.”

Essendon used its second pick in the Rookie Draft to secure McDonald-Tipungwuti.

While most rookies hone their craft in the VFL for at least the early stage of the season, the door opened a little earlier for McDonald-Tipungwuti following the events of January 12.

After some solid NAB Challenge form, he made his debut in round one and hasn’t returned to the VFL side since.

Worsfold isn’t sure if ‘Walla’s’ chance would have come without those suspensions, but is in no doubt he’s one of several silver linings from the season.

“It’s hard to say yes or no, you would like to think on our rookie list if his performances in the VFL warranted it we would have tried to have a look at getting him into it," he said.

“But who knows how well the team would have been functioning and whether there would have been an opportunity.

“It’s probably the same for Jake Long as well, coming off the rookie list late in the year to get an opportunity to play.

“A lot of people said they thought Jake was miles off it last year as well.”

The Bombers finished the season with three wins, but were able to expose a number of younger players to regular senior football.

“It was obviously a year that we were rocked in the middle of January and everything took a different twist from there," Worsfold said. 

“Everyone really pulled their weight, it was a massive extra workload but no one complained and we were fairly happy with the results.”