It’s evident Essendon’s season opener against Geelong didn’t go to plan.

From losing overall clearances (51-27), centre clearances (20-8) and stoppage clearances (31-19), it truly was a midfield masterclass from a seasoned Cats outfit.

While it was a round where most Essendon fans would like to forget the 138-72 loss, there were individual efforts which couldn’t go unnoticed.

Firstly, it’s hard to go past wingman Nic Martin, who produced one of the best debuts in AFL history.

Alongside his 27 disposals and five goals, Martin possessed an 89 per cent disposal efficiency and 10 marks.

Sam Draper held his own in the ruck, earning a game-high in hitouts (33) and team-high eight clearances to show his effort didn’t diminish as the day wore on.

His work helped the Dons win hitouts 45-33, hopefully showing if the Bombers rectify their contested work against Brisbane, first use of the ball will not be an issue.

Darcy Parish recorded a team-high 33 pressure acts to accompany his 34 disposals, highlighting that while being a part of a midfield which was beaten, his endeavour didn’t let up all day.

Defender Tom Cutler held his own after coming into the game early as a medical sub, collecting 24 disposals and a team-high 538 metres-gained.

Skipper Dyson Heppell and Peter Wright worked hard to cover 15.7km and 15km respectively.

See all the stats from round one in our match centre.