Paul Salmon made his long-awaited return to AFL football against Fremantle on Saturday night and it was a remarkable comeback, according to the man who spent most of the first half at his feet. Mid-fielder Jason Johnson is in a better position than anyone to judge the success of Salmon's comeback and he said the big Fish played like he had never been out of the game. ""It was a great return for someone who has been out of the game for more than a year,"" Johnson said. ""He got his hands on the football first at centre bounces and around the ground - it is a good sign for the season ahead.""

Johnson said the mid-field group will be working very hard with Salmon over the next few weeks to ensure things are running smoothly by round one. ""It will take a little while for us to read him and vice versa and we can work on that in the next four weeks,"" Johnson said. ""I have no doubt he will improve even more in the next few weeks - he is going to be a big bonus for us.""

Salmon played 10 minutes of the second half before coming from the ground and putting his feet up for the rest of the night. Essendon fitness coach John Quinn said Salmon had pulled up extremely well following his first competitive hit out. ""He is moving very well this morning and is feeling good after the weekend. We probably could have pushed him for a bit longer if we had wanted to but we just want to build him up steadily,"" Quinn said.

Salmon's performance was the big positive to come out of the Bombers' third consecutive Wizard Cup loss. Essendon played excellent football in the first three quarters to be within a kick of a near full-strength Fremantle at the final break. Fremantle however came home strongly in the final quarter and scored a convincing 33-point win.

Essendon started the match very strongly with Salmon dominating the ruck and Aaron Henneman proving a handful for the Dockers at full forward. Unfortunately Henneman missed a couple of early goals from set shots that would have given the Bombers a handy break early in the match. He did however show enough for the Essendon coaching staff to believe they now have another tall option up forward if required. Ted Richards - making his first appearance in the pre-season competition - was also excellent. His attack on the ball was fierce and he managed to kick Essendon's first goal of the match in an encouraging performance.

Sam Hunt played deep in defence again for the Bombers and he showed he isn't far off senior football. He worked extremely hard against some quality tall forwards and when he won the ball he used it well. Rob Forster-Knight was another young player to impress - there is nothing flashy about him but he gets the job done. Essendon's hopes of winning the match were dealt an early blow when Scott Lucas left the ground with a hip flexor injury. Dean Rioli was also forced from the ground with a jarred knee.

Match Statistics
Goals: Caracella 2, Henneman 2; Harvey, Lucas, McGrath, Richards.

Bannister:Kicks - 2, Handballs - 5, Marks - 0
Barnard: Kicks - 11, Handballs - 6, Marks - 6
Blumfield: Kicks - 10, Handballs - 5, Marks - 3
Bolton: Kicks - 1, Handballs - 14, Marks - 3
Bullen: Kicks - 0, Handballs - 0, Marks - 0
Caracella: Kicks - 5, Handballs - 6, Marks - 3
Davies: Kicks - 1, Handballs - 1, Marks - 0
Fletcher: Kicks - 6, Handballs - 3, Marks - 2
Forster-Knight: Kicks - 6, Handballs - 3, Marks - 2
Harvey: Kicks - 6, Handballs - 2, Marks - 2
Henneman: Kicks - 8, Handballs - 1, Marks - 3
Hunt: Kicks - 8, Handballs - 3, Marks - 6
Johnson J: Kicks - 11, Handballs - 10, Marks - 1
Johnson M: Kicks - 9, Handballs - 3, Marks - 4
Lucas: Kicks - 5, Handballs - 2, Marks - 3
McAlister: Kicks - 4, Handballs - 2, Marks - 4
McGrath: Kicks - 6, Handballs - 4, Marks - 4
McVeigh: Kicks - 8, Handballs - 5, Marks - 1
Peverill: Kicks - 5, Handballs - 9, Marks - 3
Ramanauskas: Kicks - 8, Handballs - 7, Marks - 3
Reynolds: Kicks - 4, Handballs - 1, Marks - 2
Richards: Kicks - 7, Handballs - 4, Marks - 1
Rioli: Kicks - 6, Handballs - 4, Marks - 1
Salmon: Kicks - 7, Handballs - 4, Marks - 2