On a night where positives were few and far between for the Bombers, the performance of Jobe Watson stood out like a beacon. Initially playing in the midfield, where he gave the Bombers some much-needed spark, Watson then went to defence in the third quarter. He handled both jobs superbly and showed he has all the attributes to be a long-term senior player.

Watson started on the bench and looked on as his teammates were comprehensively beaten in the midfield. St Kilda was rampant and things only looked to improve when Watson came off the bench and got among the action. It was a positive sign that his impact was so significant and it will help erase the memories of his first game at The Dome – his senior debut when he had a very quiet night.

Watson won plenty of the ball and capped off his good work with two goals – one a set shot and one a 50m effort on the run. They were both classy finishes. He finished the night with 15 possessions – 10 kicks and five handballs – making him the side’s fourth highest possession winner despite spending almost one quarter of the game on the bench.

""It was only a pre-season game but he can definitely take something out of the game. He was creative when he got the ball in the midfield and read the play when he went down back,"" Essendon assistant coach Dean Wallis said. ""And he also spent some time on some quality players – Aaron Hamill is a very good footballer.""

""He knows there are aspects of his game he needs to work on and fitness is one of those – if you are getting the ball in the midfield you want to be fit enough to stay there for long periods. But it was a good effort and it was certainly a step in the right direction in terms of whether or not he gets a game come round one.""