Bomber big man Aaron Henneman has followed in the footsteps of teammates Damian Cupido, Justin Murphy and Matthew Allan by agreeing to a new one-year deal with the club. The past few seasons have been frustrating for Henneman with injury meaning he saw little senior action. Since making his debut in 2000, he has only managed to play 48 senior games.

Henneman played seven games last year and has played a total of 21 in the past three years. But in 2001 he showed what an important player he could be playing 19 games in a year the Bombers reached a Grand Final. Hamstring and hip problems were the major injury problems last year.

""Both Aaron and the club thought a one year deal was best at this stage,"" Essendon football operations manager Dom Cato said. ""He needs to get a full pre-season under his belt and play the sort of football we know he is capable of - if that happens we can push forward beyond this current deal.""