The Bombers surprised everyone in 2021 by sneaking into finals on the back of a strong finish. Led by performances from their midfield stars, the emergence of a new crop made them the buzz team last year.
The real challenge now comes with the weight of expectation. An undoubtedly talented list will now look to push on to another level. Last year proved to be the season we saw Darcy Parish establish himself as a superstar of the competition.
His stunning year was capped off by rightly being named in the All-Australian team and a top-five Brownlow finish with 26 votes. With Parish ably aided by the likes of Jake Stringer, Zach Merrett, Jordan Ridley, Andy McGrath and Nick Hind, the core talent is strong.
More exciting perhaps is the young contingent coming through. The likes of Nik Cox, Archie Perkins and Harrison Jones announced themselves in 2021 and will look to kick on this year.
While the lack of depth at key positions is a concern, the club will be hoping another year of development will present new options. Having not won a final in over 6000 days, they will be keen to banish that demon once and for all.
Off-Season Moves
Ins: Jake Kelly (Adelaide), Ben Hobbs (pick 13), Alistair Lord (Pick 46), Garrett McDonagh (Pick 50), Patrick Voss (Rookie Draft Pick 9), Tex Wanganeen (SSP), Nick Martin (SSP)
Outs: Patrick Ambrose (Retired), Ned Cahill (Delisted), Marty Gleeson (Delisted), Cale Hooker (Retired), Lachie Johnson (Delisted), Sam McQuillan (Retired), Irving Mosquito (Delisted), David Zaharakis (Delisted)
Weaknesses
Key Forward Depth: With just Peter Wright, Harrison Jones, Kaine Baldwin and Alec Waterman to call on, depth at the key forward positions is an area for concern for Essendon.
While Wright performed admirably in 2021, his inconsistency hurts. Likewise, Jones impressed, yet is only in his second season this year, so it's unreasonable to place too much expectation on him.
The Bombers are crying out for a key tall to build their forward line around. This will be an area the Dons focus on in the next 12 months as it's currently their Achilles heel, preventing them from being a top four contender.
If they can continue to maximise the outputs of their small forwards like Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti and Will Snelling however, they are more than capable of covering this deficiency in 2022.
