After a promising start to its third VFLW season, Essendon heads into the Easter bye sitting fifth on the ladder with three wins and two losses.
The Bombers entered round five on a three-game winning streak, which was ended in an 11-point defeat to league leader Port Melbourne.
After 18 months without footy, head coach Brendan Major said he was impressed with the way his side had adjusted to playing again, with a batch of youngsters driving the rise up the ladder as the Bombers push for a maiden VFLW finals campaign.
“I think they got back into the swing of things pretty quickly,” Major said.
“Some of the young players in Eloise Ashley-Cooper and Alana Barba have started playing some really good football. We’ve had some players from Bendigo Pioneers come in and play really important roles for us.
“Another one is Tamsin Crook, who has come in from Calder (Cannons) and played really consistent football down back for us, which is exciting for an 18-year-old.”
With a new-look squad heading into the season, the young side has had numerous debutants across its opening games; something that excites Major for the future.
“I think ‘Snelly’s’ (Elizabeth Snell) game, the one game she played for us was quite good. She played at quite a high standard through the midfield and showed a level of poise that will set her up really well for the future. Tamsin obviously has been really, really clean and has simplified the game, which is good to see,” Major said.
“Grace Dicker is one of the most exciting prospects at Essendon in the VFLW program. She has got serious speed and attacks the player with the ball extremely hard, so she’s got some small things to work on. If she can clean those up, she could be a very good player, very damaging player at this level and even go to the next (AFLW).”
With all the new additions, Major has been pleased with the overall team performance in the first five rounds, but is aiming for more consistency as the season progresses.
“We’re slowly building. I think it’s really easy when you’re winning to overlook the things you’re doing wrong and really easy when you’re losing to focus on the things you’re doing wrong, so there’s been some consistent themes throughout every game that we’ve been working on,” he said.
“We try not to get too distracted by the little things and the little moments in games that may mean a win or loss. We’ve built the foundations quite well and there’s the start of something really exciting.”
The Bombers’ five-woman leadership group, led by captain Georgia Nanscawen and vice-captain Courtney Ugle, has been a driving force behind the team’s early cohesion on the field.
“I think the leadership group’s performing extremely well on the field. I think they’re just finding their feet off the field. We’re lucky we’ve got a very good playing group. They’ve blended really well together and the leadership group is a bit part of that,” Major said.
“But obviously being a new group, they are going to take more time to really solidify and drive the standards that they want to drive. So five weeks in, they’ve done a great job so far but it’s just continuing to build.”
After five very physical games, Major said his team would embrace the Easter bye to rest and recharge, physically and mentally, ahead of the second half of the season.
“I think one of the big things about trying to produce consistent high-level effort is giving yourself enough downtime mentally,” he said.
“It will be really good for them to get away from the club, and they still obviously have their conditioning stuff to do, but it’s really a bit of a reset and a bit of a break to see family.”
The VFLW Bombers will hope to recapture their winning form when they return from the bye to take on Hawthorn at Box Hill City Oval on April 10.
