Young players

Essendon's top two draft picks, Darcy Parish and Aaron Francis, were two new players who shone throughout the game. 

Parish played through the midfield and was often in at the centre bounces alongside his more experienced teammates. 

Francis has overcome a few pre-season niggles and was able to play the first half of the match.

He spent most of his time in the defensive half and his ability to read the play and fly for marks was particularly noticeable. 

Positional changes

Patrick Ambrose has spent the majority of his career in the forward line.

As Mark Harvey told BomberTV a few months ago, Ambrose has been training with the defensive group and played in the back half throughout today’s game.

After showing promising signs in the forward line at the end of last season, Courtenay Dempsey was back in his more familiar defensive role today.

Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti was also in the defensive half after spending the early part of the pre-season training with the forwards.

Injuries

The last thing clubs want from these intra-club matches is injuries and the Bombers have gotten through the pre-season relatively unscathed.

Gach Nyuon rolled his ankle after a marking contest in the last quarter.  He was assisted from the field and there was some swelling.  But the injury is minor and he should be back on the field soon.

Mark Jamar, Alex Morgan, Mason Redman and Nathan Grima didn’t play in today’s game.

Jayden Laverde also sat out the Bombers final warm-up match before the NAB Challenge.

He had his foot stepped on during training on Wednesday.  While his foot is sore, the injury is minor and he was able to complete some work in the gym while his teammates were on the field.

Avenues to goal

Generating scores were an issue for the Bombers in 2015, but there were signs of improvement today. 

Sam Grimley and Joe Daniher had more than 10 scoring shots between them as they worked in tandem in the forward line. 

Mathew Stokes, Sam Michael, Jackson Merrett, Ryan Crowley, Nick Kommer, Shaun Edwards and Courtenay Dempsey also got on the scoreboard.