It’s never a good idea to get ahead of yourself in the pre-season – so Essendon fans, don’t get too excited about your team’s win over Geelong down at GMHBA Stadium, in the opening match of the AFL’s Community Series.
But still, there were plenty of positive signs for the Bombers in their last pre-season hitout before the proper stuff begins in *checks notes* nine days’ time – especially if their dire end to last season to spectacularly dash the hopes and dreams of their long-suffering supporter base had given you a pessimistic outlook of their chances in 2025.
Some signs were obvious – Isaac Kako living up to the billing as last year’s pick 13 and then some, Nic Martin dominating – and looking decidedly more impactful – in a role higher up the ground, a strong display from Nate Caddy in attack to build on a debut season full of promise in 2024, and a six goals to two final quarter to run over the top of last year’s preliminary finalists (if anything at all can be read into that last one).
But there was plenty more to suggest Brad Scott can head into a new season confident his Bombers are on the cusp of a breakthrough, with Zach Reid in defence, Dylan Shiel off half-back and even Harrison Jones on a wing all doing more than enough to take into Opening Round against Gold Coast.
For the Cats, a team with far bigger fish than this to fry was never going to need to take too much away from the pre-season, especially with Bailey Smith missing with a minor injury; though Sam De Koning as the official number one ruckman, Jack Bowes impressing as a fully-fledged on-baller and some usual brilliance from Gryan Miers was enough to justify Geelong supporters tuning in.
Here’s everything we learned from Essendon’s 21-point win over Geelong.
The Bombers have a new cult hero
Isaac Kako isn’t the first top draft pick to take the pre-season by storm and he won’t be the last – but it’s hard to recall too many more exciting ‘debuts’ than what last year’s pick 13 produced at the Cattery.
Kako is essentially what you’d get if you got access to Frankenstein’s lab to make the perfect small forward. He’s zippy quick, chasing both the footy and opponents. He’s slight of build to maximise agility to evade would-be tacklers, but strong enough that they stick when he’s the one applying them. He’s got a nose for goals, exquisite skills and, perhaps most importantly of all, a knack for being in the right spot at the right time when the Bomber talls bring the ball to ground.
The result was four goals, three of them coming with the match, strictly speaking, up for grabs in the final quarter and a half – and frankly it should have been five had Sam Draper not tapped in a bouncing kick from the pocket with seconds to spare that would have been the best of the bunch.
Sure, Geelong’s defence paid him little mind, which is unlikely to be replicated by the Suns in a few days’ time when he inevitably makes his senior debut, or indeed anyone else when the real stuff starts.
But four goals and an assist that might as well have been a fifth is a hugely impressive stat line for a yet-to-debut youngster – especially when you add in the forward pressure he applies that would have thrilled Brad Scott as much as anything else.
I don’t want to compare Kako directly to Cyril Rioli – in skills and craft he’s got more of Luke Breust to him by my eye – but there’s something very Cyril-like in how nervous Cats defenders seemed to get with him in the vicinity, a trait impossible to coach into a player.
As David King said on Fox Footy‘s coverage, that No.10 is going to get a fair few requests coming through the Bombers’ merchandise department in the next few weeks!
Isaac Kako takes a strong mark. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Mixed bag for position switches
There’s nothing more pre-season than having a look at which players have spent the summer learning new roles, and trying to extrapolate whether they’ll be up to it when premiership points are at stake.
As usual, the Bombers and Cats had a mixed bag – and in some cases, that applied to the individual players as well.
The good? Nic Martin looked excellent roaming higher up the ground than for much of 2024, when he was used as a half-back distributor with mostly (but not always) positive results.
Running off a wing, Martin’s five inside 50s and six score involvements – equal-third and equal-eighth on the field respectively – told of the effectiveness of his new role just as much as his two goals. His ability to find space manifested in eight marks, two of them inside 50 – an ideal wingman’s game, in short.
Harrison Jones, too, was excellent as a hard-running wingman – with a similar build to Mark Blicavs, his 12 marks were the most on the ground. The next step is for him to use his height to pluck more contested grabs over shorter opponents, as well as to do as Martin did and have an impact inside 50 and on the scoreboard.
I’m more conflicted about Dylan Shiel’s move to half-back – yes, his speed makes him a quality line-breaking option in Martin’s stead, and 26 disposals appears a fine game on paper.
But his disposal remains wonky at times, and his turnovers really do stick out as being particularly glaring. That will only get more troublesome once the pressure lifts with the onset of the proper stuff, while his actual defending was somewhere between okay and mediocre – there was one occasion when, loosely opposed to the crafty Gryan Miers, he allowed the Cat to get goalside with the greatest of ease.
As for the Cats, Sam De Koning as the number one ruckman gets a question mark – he’s certainly got the height to do the job, but Nick Bryan and especially Sam Draper were much too powerful for him in the majority of contests, as a 39-16 hitout stat line epitomises; and unlike a Tim English or a Rowan Marshall, he doesn’t seem to possess the ball-winning knack around the ground or bullocking follow-up ground work to make up for it.
Plus, he’s an exceptional young key defender without whom the Cats’ backline looked a tad shaky, and certainly undersized, against the Dons.
New Baby Bombers?
Essendon surged to an unexpected flag in 1993 on the back of probably the most famous crop of young guns, the ‘Baby Bombers’, in footy history.
32 years on, it’s way too early to give a similar moniker to the new group of youngsters in red and black – but the signs are mighty encouraging.
Kako has already been raved about enough, but don’t sleep on Nate Caddy either – despite only four disposals, the second-year tall’s clean hands and beautiful set-shot kicking were on full display against the Cats, finishing with three goals. That’s a rate of efficiency Brad Scott will love to see, as will a competitiveness in the air and a willingness to crash packs notably absent for large chunks of last year from the Bombers’ one-time spearhead, Peter Wright.
Elijah Tsatas, after a 2024 spent treading water, looked excellent in a full-time on-ball role. It remains to be seen whether he’ll be afforded the same opportunities when the real stuff starts, but his ball-winning knack (31 disposals), strength at the coalface (a game-high ten clearances) and cool head with ball in hand means Scott can inject him into the midfield without fear against the Suns should he be picked.
Nick Bryan looks set to overtake Todd Goldstein as Draper’s ruck partner, with additional mobility around the ground to the veteran former Roo; Zach Reid has beautiful skills for a key defender and competes hard, and is an Opening Round lock provided his body doesn’t disintegrate into ash when someone slaps him on the back at training during the week; and new recruit Jaxon Prior looked the goods as a no-nonsense lockdown defender who barely gave Ollie Henry an inch.
We’ve seen false dawns galore at Essendon in years past; God knows this could be one of them, but for now at least, there’s enough substance to suggest these Bombers can fire more than a few shots in 2025.
New commentary pairing a winner for Fox
With the new media rights deal making waves across the footy media landscape, we got the first taste of Fox Footy’s new Thursday night commentary pairing when Mark Howard and Matt Hill teamed up to call the Cats and Bombers.
And it was… nothing earth-shattering, but still good. Good enough for it to be notable, and not just in a ‘I at no point had the urge to turn the TV on mute’ way.
Howard is a naturally excitable caller, which is never a bad thing in and of itself, but can sometimes get a little bit jading when he’s the sole commentator, especially during those boring mid-season blowout games when the excitement is manufactured.
Hill, meanwhile, is an old-school commentator: no-nonsense, minimal bells and whistles and the professionalism that comes with decades of experience calling the racing, he’s become many people’s favourite Fox commentator over the last 12 months.
Together, there’s a touch of Bruce McAvaney and Dennis Cometti, footy’s best ever commentary one-two, about them: Hill the down-to-earth wordsmith adding gravitas to the coverage, Howard the enthusiastic partner in crime reminding us all that this game of ours is a pastime to be enjoyed.
And given the alternative on Seven is Brian Taylor, I’d wager this new duo is going to get plenty of airtime in TVs around the nation in the year to come!
