Essendon’s 44-point VFL win over the Northern Bullants on Saturday was largely a contested ball-heavy day with inside midfielders flourishing.

Boosted by the strong responses of Peter Wright, Archie Perkins and Todd Goldstein at VFL level, the Dons looked in control for most of the day and registered a fourth win from their last five games.

Senior Coach Blake Caracella reviews the performances of our AFL-listed Bombers and some notable VFL-listed efforts from the weekend’s win.

Elijah Tsatas

32 disposals, six clearances, four tackles, four marks

A pretty solid performance from ‘Lij’, who’s been very consistent for us this year.

He’s competing really well inside in an on-ball brigade that’s producing good form, making good things happen particularly by hand.

Ben Hobbs

34 disposals, eight tackles, six clearances, one goal

‘Hobbsy’ looked really strong again.

He gets in and under at clearances and provides great tackling pressure for us. You always know what you’re going to get from him week-to-week, his second half especially was really good.

Sam Weideman

18 disposals, 10 marks

‘Weids’ was really solid down in defence again.

Given he’s only really played half a season’s worth of games in the role, he’s tracking really well. He always provides consistent communication and leadership in the back half alongside ‘Hayesy’ and ‘Hoarey’, the boys love having him back there.

Will Setterfield

43 disposals, eight clearances, seven marks

The midfielders had a very good day and ‘Setters’ got plenty of it.

He provides real strength for us in the contest and was just consistent in terms of his ball-winning for the entire game, but used it really well on the outside as well.

He’s in great form over the last few weeks.

Archie Perkins

26 disposals, four clearances, four tackles, three marks, one goal

A lot of ‘Perko’s really good traits stem from his ability to break and lay tackles, which he showed on the weekend.

He looked strong at contests, got forward and occasionally had scoreboard opportunities, so all-in-all it was a pretty good game.

Todd Goldstein

43 hit-outs, 17 disposals, five clearances

‘Goldy’ dominated in the ruck.

He was really influential for us at stoppage with his experience and class, and it provided a good opportunity for some of our younger players to learn off one of the more accomplished rucks in the game.

Lewis Hayes

22 disposals, eight marks

Again, 'Hayesy’s developing really strongly.

Behind the ball he looks comfortable with the other key backs supporting him, he’s getting his hands on it more and providing rebound to go along with his purely defensive stuff, which has been promising.

Nick Hind

27 disposals, four tackles, four marks, one goal

‘Hindy’ played down back for most of the day and provided real dash for us, as expected.

His ability to break lines and open the game up has been really prominent for us in recent weeks, but he held up well defensively and also laid some important tackles. We pushed him forward late and again showed his capability playing multiple positions.

Peter Wright

19 disposals, eight marks, four hit-outs, three goals

Pete got his hands on it quite a lot for a key forward.

We had quite an even spread of contributors on the score sheet and a few different targets, so it was good from an individual point-of-view to see Pete get five or six shots on goal and impact the game.

Luamon Lual

11 disposals, four marks

We tried ‘Luey’ up forward for the first time this week.

We’re going to get him that (first) goal eventually, he’s come really close and was unlucky on a few occasions this weekend as well.

He’s reading the patterns pretty well and is creating opportunities, so he’s showing some good signs in different roles.

Jayden Davey

Four disposals, three tackles

Jayden was a bit quieter on the ball this week, but we were pleased with his team efforts, getting his body in line, laying tackles and some clever knock-on play.

It tells me his head’s in a good space when he’s had less of the ball than he would’ve liked but he’s still doing good things to support the team.

Vigo Visentini

12 disposals, six hit-outs, five marks, one goal

With Wright, Goldstein and ‘Vigs’ we went in quite tall this week.

For a young ruck, he’s always really involved. He’s kicked goals, taken some strong marks and competed strongly around the ground, so we’re pleased with how he’s going right now.

Tex Wanganeen

22 disposals, five marks

We love when the ball’s in his hands.

Tex has that real ability to generate chances for us, whether it’s with his leg speed or his kicking, so we feel that move down back has been really good for him in the last 5-6 weeks.