In many ways, it’s hard to believe Archie Roberts is only a week removed from his teens. 

On-field, he’s one of the first people his peers point to for who they love to play with most – vocal, aggressive at the man and the ball, and the first to jump to his mates’ defence at even the slightest hint of a dust-up.

Off-field, he speaks about footy with a perspective that highlights exactly why a certain former No.21 passed down his guernsey to inherit so quickly.

Roberts’ 2025 campaign was a prominent highlight in a difficult year for the Club. Runner-up in the Crichton Medal, the Lindsay Griffiths Rising Star and Most Improved Player internally, as well as a nominee from his teammates for the AFLPA MVP. 

He isn’t resting on those laurels though. Roberts has been one of the first players through the door for just about every day of training to date in this pre-season, and with a bunch of his injured pals from last season gunning to come back for a round one encounter with Hawthorn in just over 100 days’ time, his excitement levels haven’t been higher as an AFL player.

His full chat with essendonfc.com.au from the launch of our Fly Together Membership Campaign: 

The return: Time trials, player connection, confidence

Yeah, the first day and full week back is pretty important for the footy club - it was an intimidating day at the two-kilometre time trial, which is good to get out of the way early. 

I got to get that off the chest and now it's onto the footy side of things, which is the most important part. I'm just happy to be back in routine and not being at home

every morning - just getting in and being around the boys every day is a great feeling.

I’ve been at the club for two years now. You get that understanding like, if you've done the work, you should be confident, you shouldn’t be really intimidated by it. For me, I knew I had done the work and I'd put myself in a great position to perform in the run.  

The new faces: Respect, admiration, readiness 

It's been unbelievable for us having more new faces come in. 

For me, I'll obviously be working quite closely with ‘Solly’ as my backline coach. Those guys, you go back and watch their highlights and they're unbelievable players, but they're also some of the toughest players I've ever watched. 

To have the support of ‘Welshy’ this year backing us the whole way, it's so important.

The breakout year: Onto the next

I’ve definitely had time to reflect, but I've also had to move on pretty quickly this year and focus on improving again. 

I had a decent year, but I just want to keep getting better and that's the most important part of footy at this level – you’ve got to keep improving, the competition won’t just sit back and wait for you. 

While it’s been a pretty special year for me individually, it's just giving me a benchmark of where I need to be every year at a minimum, and then just keep building off that every single year. I'm hoping to get to an even higher point in the next 12 months.

The messaging: Locking in, managing the off-season media speculation

The boys are fully aware and understanding of the position we've been in, we've underperformed the past two years and we're ready to get going, get things kickstarted. 

We know that we've got to crack in and I think Brad's messaging is so important. He pushes us to be really confident that the success will come for us.

I think (the media attention) is a part of the job and you accept that. When things aren't going great, they’re going to be all over you, you've just got to let your footy do the talking – with that, if I've got media commitments, I'll give them as much as respect as I would to anyone else.

The future: Team chemistry, leadership potential 

There’s always the chance that the team could look very different to the one that finished last year, but I know that when guys get their opportunity, they've already played AFL footy, and it’s going to allow those boys to flourish - I think it's going to be a massive benefit for us. 

We've got really great chemistry among us, everyone's played a fair bit of footy together. I think I’ve now played a game at AFL level with nearly every single person on the list, so I'm looking forward to continuing that connection.  

I feel like I'm going into games with a different focus now. At the start of this season, I was going in thinking, 'yep, I’ve just got to hold my spot, hold my spot.'

I think now I can go into games really with the focus of helping the team win, genuinely helping us build, being a leader amongst this group and driving us forward. 

That's my sole focus now. I've got a role to perform and I'm looking forward to it.