Essendon has made its return to pre-season under the scorching Tullamarine sun with a two-hour hitout on Thursday morning. 

In a promising start off the back of the group’s Christmas break, the vast majority of the Dons squad were available for full training – the session contained a mix of full-ground ball movement, stoppage simulation and tight contested work. 

Despite the taxing 32-degree heat throughout, the physical output was high. Tackling efforts were ferocious across the board - especially from Jayden Nguyen and a notably more sizeable Archer Day-Wicks. Draftee Jacob Farrow was a clean ball user in the blustery conditions.

Chatting to essendonfc.com.au, defensive leader Mason Redman noted that Zach Reid’s aerial prowess was another standout from the day’s drills, with the 202cm key back keen to replicate and build off his early 2025 form this season. 

Nate Caddy trained fully and was impressive in the condensed drills, while Zach Merrett was terrific in traffic as per. 

With Sam Durham and Jye Caldwell joining Redman in the leadership group this year, their presence in the midfield group has taken another step up – vocal, instructive, and constructive with younger players while setting a strong tone at ground level themselves. 

That same midfield was impressed by the clean hands of Darcy Parish, whose promising run over pre-season is translating well into the sessions so far. 

Max Kondogiannis looked confident in the air and intercepted nicely, showing glimpses and snippets of what the future could hold for the 190cm draftee. 

Harry Jones completed some drills as he works towards a return to the main group, making steady progress in his recovery from the ankle injury sustained back in round eight of last year.

Recently re-signed SSP midfielder Will Setterfield ran laps alongside Archie Perkins, with the pair getting closer to involvement in drills. 

The Bombers continue to count down towards their blockbuster round one clash with Hawthorn at the ‘G on March 13, now just 64 days away.