After spending six weeks on the sidelines, few people could blame Essendon midfielder David Zaharakis for being a little rusty.

But any doubts about the on-baller’s ability to have an immediate impact in his return to the side were quickly quashed as he led the way from the front in Essendon’s 29-point victory over Fremantle.

Zaharakis gathered 26 disposals, eight inside-50s and a goal in a terrific performance to quickly solidify his spot in the team once again.

The rare and nasty collarbone injury Zaharakis suffered in round 11 initially put his entire season in doubt, but he said he was thrilled to be return ahead of schedule to be a part of the crucial win.

“It’s better than being the layoff that we thought originally, we thought it was going to be a few more weeks,” Zaharakis said post-match.

“(I) got out there this round, which was great to be back out there with the boys.

“The group’s awesome, the boys are such a tight group at the moment, so to be out here playing again is great and it’s good to get the win in the end.”

The 28-year-old’s confidence was boosted with some early touches of the football in his return, but he said he was always certain he could comfortably deal with his injury as he re-entered the bustling contests of AFL football.

“It just came good really quickly three weeks post-surgery and then once I got the all clear from the surgeon this week I had confidence in it coming into this game,” he said.

“The ball sort of didn’t leave my wing for a bit in that first quarter and I got a few early touches and just felt a part of it again.”

Essendon was left to rue a number of missed opportunities throughout the match, but Zaharakis said it was important for the side not to read too much into its inaccuracy.

“It’s a little bit frustrating when you don’t finish off, but not frustrating in terms of the way we were playing.

“We were playing some great footy. We had 20 more scoring shots, dominated the inside-50s and the ball was in our forward half for most of the game.

“If you start getting frustrated looking up at the scoreboard then all of a sudden it takes away from what you’re actually trying to do and we stuck to that today.”

The Bombers had more than 30 inside-50s at half-time but had kicked just four goals, but Zaharakis said the team was still confident despite entering the main break with an eight-point deficit.

“We came in at half-time and even though we were down we said, ‘We’re playing better footy than them, we’re dominating the game’.

“To the boys’ credit, we had that mindset which enabled us to get the win in the end.”

Zaharakis wasn’t the only Bomber to return to the side in style on Sunday, with Orazio Fantasia booting five goals from 19 disposals and taking seven marks inside the forward 50.

Zaharakis described the dangerous forward as a “barometer” for the team and said it was great to have him back after two weeks on the sidelines.

“He’s so speedy up forward and he can have that little time in the midfield and he just creates that energy in the forward line.

“He’s so hard to defend, because he’s so explosive. So he can get you up at the footy or he can get you over the back towards goals and opposition defenders don’t really know how to play (on) him.”

The midfielder said he’s looking forward to another huge challenge as Essendon looks to keep its season alive against Sydney next Friday.

“Six-day break and Friday night footy. Our season’s on the line every week and we’re on the right side of the ledger now, so hopefully we can continue that next week.”