Essendon showed some signs of life in the annual King's Birthday eve clash against Carlton, falling by five points in their second hit out under caretaker coach Dean Solomon.
Throughout last week, it was revealed that the Bombers would seek draft assistance from the AFL at the season's end.
Speaking on the Six Points AFL podcast, Mark Stevens has made a bold call about the Bombers' future and believes they don't need help from the AFL.
"Who's closer to a premiership right now, Essendon or Collingwood?
"I think with the kids that Essendon's got, this sounds crazy, but Collingwood aren't asking for assistance, I think Essendon are closer to premiership right now than Collingwood," Stevens said.
"If you look at the two lists, unless the Magpies can pull off a miracle with some free agency, then Essendon are more likely to bounce forward.”
Daniel Harford also doesn't believe that the Bombers need assistance from the AFL, pointing out that the Bombers were competing for finals not that long ago.
“Go back to Round 17 2024, so a year and half ago, where do you reckon the Bombers on the ladder? They were fourth on the ladder, less than 18 months ago," Harford said.
"They clearly fell away very quickly on the back of that, and then last year with injuries and a similar scenario this year, but on the back of that alone, they can't be asking for draft assistance."
Harford believes the Bombers have enough talent on their list to be a competitive side.
"Watching them play, and you think, ok, there is enough here, Dean Solomon did a really good job tactically the other night against Carlton," Harford said.
"To get them into the game and be competitive, at half time they were fantastic, they had been fantastic up until half time
"They played a few players in different positions, Merrett off half back, McKay forward, Durham back into the team, obviously helps."
In a broader AFL issue, Stevens believes draft assistance should be scrapped completely.
“You have list managers, recruiting staff for a reason, that's your job, get it right, get your list right."
“I would ban all assistance forever, put it in stone.
“Put it on stone now, never again do we assist a football club, which has made mistakes drafting and recruiting and with list management, trading etcetera.
"Never bail them out, let's just stop it now, we can easily do it, because it's just comprising footy again."
