Brendon Goddard is set to play his 100^th game for the Bombers this Friday night against former Club St Kilda.

The 32 year old played 205 games with the Saints before landing at the Bombers ahead of the 2013 season.

He won the Crichton Medal in his first season with the Club and Captained the side in 2016.

Teammate Zach Merrett told Bomber Radio Goddard’s high standards didn’t waiver throughout a challenging season last year. 

“He has been a massive part of our footy club for the last five years,” Merrett said.

“It was a tough time but he was someone who stood tall and proud.

“He had a lot of weight on his shoulders last year captaining the footy club and the way he did it was super. 

“We had a pretty clear vision of where we wanted to get to as a footy club last year and that was to be an exciting footy club that kicked goals and was really ruthless in defence.

“At times it waivered and was inconsistent but Brendon was very consistent in his messages of the big picture of where we wanted to get to this year and going forward.

“His ability to encourage and be positive in a really trying time was super and as someone looking up to him it was a great learning curve for myself.”

Goddard has played at least 20 games in each of his four completed seasons with the Club and has averaged 26 possessions throughout his 99 Essendon games.

“He has made a magnificent contribution on the field to the Club and his leadership last year was awesome,” Essendon Coach John Worsfold said. 

“He was a big part of us having a lot of what we would class as 'success' in the season in terms of preparing for this year. 

“It’s a credit to him and I’ve really enjoyed working alongside him.”