Adelaide Oval set the stage on Saturday for Essendon’s opening win of the season and their first since Dreamtime at the ‘G last year.

The drought‑breaking display reinforced the value of sticking to plan, as the Bombers held onto their Gather Round streak against Melbourne, moving it to 3–0 with a 45-point win.

Recording his first win as skipper, Andy McGrath captured both the emotion of the moment and the opportunity to reward supporters for their patience throughout a challenging period.

“It feels amazing. I think all the boys show their emotion when the siren went,” McGrath said.

“It's been a tricky 18 months for the whole footy Club, for our fans, players and staff included.

“It feels like we've taken a big step forward and a reward for all the hard work we've been putting in behind the scenes.”

After a difficult start to the 2026 season, signs of improvement began to emerge in round four against the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium, where Essendon showed greater fight after half-time.

With a strong focus on delivering a consistent four‑quarter performance, McGrath highlighted the belief gained from producing a convincing result against quality opposition.

“I think the biggest thing for our group is there's a bit of evidence that what we're doing is working,” McGrath said.

“We feel internally like we're getting better every single week, but obviously the scoreboard hasn't shown that other than today, so to put it all together in a four‑quarter performance and beat a quality side in Melbourne, quite convincingly, in the end was a standout.

“We saw that the first half was really competitive, we knew what they were going to throw it at us.

“I just thought we took our moments really well in the second half, we got a bit more dominance around clearance. I thought Pete (Wright) and (Lachie) Blakiston in the ruck did a great job against Max Gawn, a super player, and we were able to play the game in our forward half.”

The match also marked first wins in red and black for several emerging players, including Archie May, Jacob Farrow, Lachie Blakiston and debutant Sullivan Robey.

McGrath spoke to the importance of celebrating those moments with the Club’s younger talent and the role they play in Essendon’s future.

“As a more senior player now, you get so much joy seeing debutantes like Sully today, getting Gatorade thrown all over them, it was a really exciting moment for our footy Club,” he said.

“We've got so many young kids that are willing and really able to learn and get better every single day and I'm so excited to help them become the best players they can be and inevitably they're going to take us back up the ladder.”

Essendon’s backline showcased its growing depth, with Archie Roberts producing a career‑best 42 disposals and Jacob Farrow pulling in 12 marks.

“Roberts can play anywhere. I think he's played through the midfield over the pre‑season, he plays back at the moment,” McGrath said.

“He is just a really composed head and he’s a competitor; we love playing with him.

“Then Farrow is just a laser with his left foot, he reminds me a lot of a young Jordan Dawson from Adelaide.

“He's just so composed for an 18‑year‑old kid, his eyes are always up, he's connecting with teammates and he uses the ball so well and no stage really overawes him.

“We're really happy to have those two guys in our backline along with the other more senior guys and we feel like we're building something together.”

Assistant Coach Brent Stanton echoed the pride within the football department, acknowledging the persistence shown by players and staff.

“It's been a long time coming,” Stanton said.

“The hard work has been put in over a long period of time and just feel really pleased for the players to be able to achieve a result that we've come here to get against a very good team who's been in very good form.

“We had our leaders stand up, and the introduction of these younger players into the side injected some enthusiasm and it's very pleasing and exciting that they're able to get the result that we were after.”

Stanton also stressed the importance of maintaining standards despite the positive result.

“It’s part of our job is trying to keep these guys on track and I hope the supporters have enjoyed what they've seen, especially over the last six quarters of football,” he said.

“Unfortunately, we weren't able to put that together in the first ten quarters that we played this year, but this is the standard that we set from now on, and that's the standard that we need to keep on driving to be able to even grow even further.

“It's important as a coaching group that, yes, we did get a result today, but we've still got a lot of areas to improve on. We will cherish the feeling of winning as it has been a little while now, but it's onto another great team in Gold Coast and travelling to their home ground.”

Stanton was also full of praise for debutant Robey.

“There’s Sullivan Robey who just looks ready to go and it's been hard to try and hold ourselves back to pick him,” Stanton said.

“We know what he's been able to produce in the VFL, but he did have limited pre‑season, so that's probably the explanation of why we were hesitant to bring him in before this.

“Now he had that body of work and we just saw he was able to stand up in big moments as well. His leadership, probably without even him knowing, is organising in his first game of football and it's impressive to watch.”

The Bombers now turn their attention to round six, travelling north to take on the Gold Coast SUNS at People First Stadium on Saturday afternoon.