Essendon fell short, but there will be no shortage of love from its fans for how the Bombers played against a talent-laden Gold Coast Suns side on Saturday.
The Dons backed up their effort from last weekend's drought-breaking win against Melbourne with a stirring performance away from home against the Suns. Going down by nine points in a tight encounter.
In the corresponding fixture in the final round of last year, the Bombers were thumped by 95 points in a train wreck match. Essendon coach Brad Scott said people forget how maligned his side has been with injuries in the past 18 months.
"It's been interesting, a few teams talking about having a few players out, well we had 20 out," Scott said. "So cry me a river.
"In terms of the fight (shown on Saturday) in the group, I was really pleased with that. We want to pretty quickly progress past just that to finishing off the job.
"We have got a lot of work to do and we know that, but the last couple of weeks there has been things where you think, 'Yeah, that's what we want to look like'. And you can see what we are going to look like sooner rather than later, I hope."
The Bombers' fortunes have turned quickly in the past fortnight, with two impressive performances highlighting the club's fresh talent.
Young guns Archie Roberts (33 disposals), Elijah Tsatas (25 disposals), Sullivan Robey (two goals), Isaac Kako (two goals) and Archer May (two goals) impressed against the Suns.
Scott said he hopes fans have got more than just a glimpse into the opportunities this group will have with the talent at its disposal.
"It's hard for us to contain our excitement about our young players," he said.
"We have played all five draftees already. (Dyson) Sharp made a comeback in the VFL today after an ankle injury, we think he is going to be a player.
"Really the last three drafts, we are talking of players of the calibre of Roberts, (Nate) Caddy, Kako, the five draftees this year. They are largely part of our best side at the moment. That presents, as I repeatedly say, some challenges in the short term but genuine excitement for what we are trying to build."
What will impress Bombers fans the most was the side's ability to fight their way back into the contest on multiple occasions. A level of resolve that hasn't been associated with Essendon players in recent times.
