Dean Solomon wants Essendon players and fans alike to enjoy their drought snapper against GWS but knows it’s just a small sample size for what his group can strive for.

The Senior Coach has been regimented in picking his sides for their off-ball effort and manic pressure in recent weeks, which bore fruit in the form of dominant clearance and tackling numbers from the three-point win in front of a home crowd on Sunday.

While the performances from a slew of emerging talent – Rising Star nominee Dyson Sharp and young leader Sam Durham among them – earned a hefty amount of praise, Solomon was equally impressed by the efforts of his senior core after presenting the challenge to them earlier in the week.

Solomon on… an overdue reward, moving forward 

It’s not actually a surprise, which might sound a bit silly.

The players have been working their bums off for the last six weeks. It just hadn’t transferred to gameday and as a club, we were confident it was going to transfer at some stage.

It’s a sensational win for all people involved with Essendon. The heavy lifting in the last six or seven weeks… it’s been a significant time for this Club but it’s a nice feeling.

It’s going to be up and down, there are going to be bumps – we’ve had one win, we’re not getting carried away – but there are exciting times ahead.

Players, staff, our members, our supporters, our sponsors… they all get a little reward for what’s been a challenging time.

Within the four walls, a lot of people have been doing a lot of work. It’s a great outcome and it’s probably something we deserved.

Solomon on… the young brigade, the leaders’ responses

We had nine players in their first 18 months of (AFL) footy, which is incredible. It’s a credit to our leaders who stood up – we’ve challenged them over the last couple of weeks about standing up in big moments – they did that really well today.

To do it without Nate is sad in one instance but shows it’s a pretty super effort from the group. There were almost more inside the circle than outside the circle (in the team song).

All these young guys, I’m incredibly proud of them. (Sharp’s) a ripper, Sully Robey, Artemis, Kako’s pressure. It’s been hard but I hope the supporters are starting to see what’s coming through.

These kids are made of the right stuff but I won’t take anything away from our leaders either, they were sensational today.

(Merrett’s) a champion, he’s a champion. He’s got a lot of pride in who he is and for our Club.

I wasn’t concerned because I knew how he was going to respond. He messaged me after the Brisbane game saying he knew why he was below his best and he knew he’d bounce back – it gave me a lot of confidence.

(Durham) screams leadership and he screams leadership through actions.

I love coaching him, I love who he is as a person, I love what he does on the field and I love the way he represents this jumper.

If we could have six more of him, we’d be in a great place. I love the fact that a lot of these kids are looking to him (as what it looks like to be a Bomber).

Solomon on… selection non-negotiables

We’ve been doing that (at selection) for four or five weeks. We select a team in line with what we want and that’s how much we can impact the game without the ball.

It has been (a focus) for six weeks. We want to play a forward half game and our tackle pressure in the forward 50 was super.

Plus 15 in contested possessions, plus 17 in clearances, that’s the brand we want to bring.

It’s starting to get traction in the way we want to play, the players are getting a better understanding. The guys who went out of the team, they responded really well in the VFL too.

Solomon on… a cause bigger than footy

The kids who come in and present jumpers to our players, ‘Rama’ yesterday, we spoke about it pre-game.

We’re extremely lucky to do what we do, some of these kids are in a real battle fighting for their lives at the moment and we’re just out here playing footy.

We wanted to make sure Sunday afternoon was the best moment of their lives and we went a long way to putting a smile on their face.

Solomon on… the fans, keeping things rolling

The supporters that were here really engaged in the game. The noise was incredible, so I also hope those at home enjoyed the brand and the win – it’s a good day.

It’s been incredibly frustrating, we understand that. We’ve got a group here that’s pretty hungry and want to be great. We appreciate the patience that’s been shown, they sat there right to the end and they were incredibly loud.

We speak about (our fans) a lot, how much you all mean to us and how much we just want to make you guys proud – hopefully today we did.

It’s critically important they enjoy the winning feeling. We’ve got to allow (the players) to capture the moment, feel it, understand it and then chase it during the week again.

The Hawks had a good win, we know what’s coming. MCG on Saturday, hopefully we can get our supporters down and back up what we did today – that’s the biggest challenge.