Laycock was returning from injury along with Mark McVeigh, Kyle Reimers and Hayden Skipworth. All four played around 60 minutes and were clearly in need of game time having spent prolonged periods on the sideline through injury.

The Bombers were beaten 24.14 (158) to 15.8 (98).

“Jason played a good 60 minutes and we were really pleased with his performance given he hasn't played at all this season,” Essendon assistant coach Gary O’Donnell said. “He was the biggest positive from the game as far as our senior side was concerned.”

“Mark McVeigh definitely needed the run as did Hayden Skipworth. Both did a few nice things but they will have derived great benefit from getting a game under their belt. Kyle Reimers did some nice things. He kicked a nice goal coming off a wing and kicked the ball well to advantage going inside 50m.

“Michael Hurley tried hard, he was probably not as good as he was last week but still did well. Darcy Daniher was moved into the back half after half time and did quite well. Scott Lucas kicked three from limited opportunities and Brent Prismall now has a couple of games under his belt so they are all making progress .”

It was an important game for the senior Bombers as some changes may need to be made to the senior side. Courtenay Dempsey faces a fitness test with an ankle injury while the tribunal will have a close look at a collision between Nathan Lovett-Murray and Kane Pettifer on Saturday night.