Mason Redman has been picked to play his first game with Essendon this Saturday against Sydney.

The Bombers selected Redman with the 30^th overall pick in last November’s National Draft.

He slowly built up his training loads throughout the season and has shown some promising signs in the VFL.

“We managed his program in the early part of the pre-season just with some soreness he had,” Essendon Coach John Worsfold said. 

“But he really was diligent in the way he handled that and since then he’s built up to where he’s playing really good VFL football.

“He’s a very smart player, very competitive.

“He’s playing forward where he hasn’t played a lot of footy but he’s showing a bit of natural talent there.

“He’s really worked hard to earn his spot in the team.”

Redman, the son of a lobster fisherman, grew up in Millicent - a South Australian town about four hours east of Adelaide.

He moved to Adelaide to further his football in 2015 where he played under Matt Lokan at Glenelg in the SANFL.

Lokan told essendonfc.com.au last year that Redman’s will to succeed has always been evident. 

“Mason’s very driven,” Lokan said.

“He’s always been pretty driven and always had that goal of wanting to do the best that he could.

“He worked his backside off to get where he is and he got rewarded by being drafted to Essendon.”

Redman is one of five inclusions for the Bombers. 

Mark Baguley, Shaun McKernan and Craig Bird return to the line-up while Nathan Grima has been picked for his first game with the Club.