The waiting game for season 2025 is almost over.

Set to officially open their year on the Gold Coast for Opening Round this Saturday, Essendon CEO Craig Vozzo sat down with Club legend and Australian Football Hall of Famer Tim Watson in a lengthy discussion on the Dons’ aspirations for this year and beyond.

Walking out to a sea of thousands of Dons fans on the NEC Hangar’s community oval for Family Day on Saturday, the turnout was reflective for Vozzo of the excitement that’s been generated from the players off the back of their work following the end of last season.

For many of the Bombers faithful, it would’ve marked the chance to see and meet nearly a quarter of the entire list for the first time.

Naturally, young talent and fresh faces (shown in 20 list changes over the last two years) bring a new level of energy to an environment, and the opportunity in front of this group as the league’s fourth youngest list in 2025 is a promising one for the wider fanbase.

In the wake of collective frustration over the way 2024 ended over the final month of the home-and-away campaign, Vozzo believes the growing levels of excitement and engagement around the Club in recent months can be attributed to its focus on development, leadership and culture.

“We’ve used the word ‘reset’ but whatever you want to use, we deal with the facts. We’ve made 20 list changes in the last two years and there’s been no change in approach from 2023 to ’24, we made 11 list changes (then) and nine last year," Vozzo said.

“Having the fourth youngest list is one (exciting) aspect but we’ve got a good group of 23-27-year-olds, it’s not like we’re going down to 18-year-olds, we’ve got a good group that hopefully we’ve put the resourcing around and they’re ready to elevate."

Zach Merrett and Andy McGrath have taken a big deal of onus in that space over the last five months, with the expansion of the leadership group also seeing Mason Redman, Kyle Langford and Nic Martin add a great deal of flexibility and leadership growth at the Club.

The direction from that core group of leaders, as well as the existing talent established in that critical 23-27 age bracket through players like Martin, Sam Durham, Ben McKay, Nick Bryan, Harry Jones, Jye Caldwell, Jordan Ridley and Sam Draper are what Vozzo is hoping will shape the Club’s identity going forward.

“The on-field piece is high performance culture, through our (player) leadership into the standards we set around our football department,” Vozzo said.

“I feel there’s been cultural change in that sense and hopefully an elevation of standards in terms of what they expect of themselves and who they represent.

“It aligns people if you give them clarity as to purpose and why we’re here, and I like to drive that.

“With our players, we’ve obviously had a lot of focus on Andy and Zach over the last couple of years but it was time now to increase that volume. I’m super excited about that and they’re excited about the growth, delegation of responsibility, clarity and spreading what that load looks like across our playing group."

While Vozzo and Senior Coach Brad Scott have spoken frequently about the vision of a long-term, stable base for the Club in future – ranging from Board level to football department and administration – he doesn’t want that vision mistaken as coming in expense of the Bombers’ goals for this year.

The ideal of September football is always at the forefront, and 2025 is no different. Vozzo’s also looking to ensure the Dons’ list is best positioned to be as capable as possible for as long as possible.

“The first bit is our aspiration. We want to make finals and we’re not shying away from that,” Vozzo said.

“We want to constantly improve, I’ve spoken about this and Brad has. We recognise it’s a hard comp, nothing comes easy and we’ve got to work for it but what I’d hope our members see is a real shift in how we’re going about it and they can see some excitement in the team and the youth that it brings.

“I was pretty encouraged over the last couple of weeks with some improvement in how we defended the ground and how we move the footy, but I’ll let Brad deal with all of that.”

Over this pre-season, the Dons have seen more glimpses than ever into the future of the Club on-field.

The added opportunity for Scott to name sides with players such as Archie Roberts, Lewis Hayes, Zach Reid, Elijah Tsatas, Ben Hobbs, Nate Caddy and Isaac Kako all out there contributing strongly will hopefully be a sign of things to come.

Coming away with two wins over quality opposition in Geelong and the Bulldogs is a good result, but now Vozzo is drawing attention to what matters – staying the course and making maximum impact in the marathon of a full AFL season.

In the case of that new crop, Vozzo has been most impressed with how well the new kids on the block are buying into that noted culture shift.

“It’s incredible what youth brings. The reason I smiled (when you brought them up) is because I know what they’re like as young men, they’re just infectious and have that type of personality,” Vozzo said.

“Without any putting any pressure on them (Caddy and Kako), they listen, they learn real quick, they implement and they’ve been real pros in such a short space of time. I’m really confident they’ll get the best out of themselves over the journey and hopefully there’s a lot of fun ahead for our supporters there."

Identifying and developing young talent is ultimately reflected in the coaching and recruiting staff, which have again seen more resources added to their arsenal over the course of the last year.

The Dons have welcomed Cameron Joyce as VFL Senior Coach in recent weeks, which provides further support for Michael Hurley and Travis Cloke in the growing development space.

“That development pathway – I’ve spoken about it before – since 2022, we’ve gone from six and a half full-time staff around our players coaching-wise up to nine now,” Vozzo said.

“Obviously, we’ve made a lot of change. We’ve continued to beef up the resourcing around our players, which is really important, and to consolidate in the VFL program as well.

“We feel that part of our program is really well placed. Off-field, we made a lot of change in 2023, so it’s all about consolidation and clarity for us on why we exist as a Club - high performance through our programs and to bring joy to our members.”

The 2024 AFL draft marked a significant milestone allowing Matt Rosa and the list and recruiting team to unveil the results of their strategic planning, which Vozzo is hoping will bear fruit given the emphasis in growing that area of the Club during his early tenure.

With a renewed focus on bolstering the recruiting space and a clear lens for attacking the draft, Vozzo’s also hopeful the Club can keep targeting individual talent and character that fits the mould of what an Essendon person should be.

“Coming out of COVID, we had one of the most under-resourced recruiting departments in the country, in my view,” Vozzo said.

“We’ve worked hard to build that capacity in terms of numbers, but in terms of clarity I think we’ve made a fair change in trying to identify what we’re after, in terms of what makes an Essendon player and also trying to address list balance.”

“Talent is always number one of course, and that is a critical factor but you need to combine that with the person and hopefully make an assessment of what you want an Essendon player to look like in all facets.

“The professionalism, the drive, the social conscience, the whole lot. It’s all around building capacity in terms of the list and its balance in different ways.”

Within that list build, the desire for a player-driven leadership model is going to play a major role in how well that unit of 40-plus players can drive the Dons up the ladder.

In Vozzo’s mind, there’s a great deal in confidence and faith in that group of young players as a driving force for the whole football department.

“I think they’re really clear with the expectation they set for themselves and then of course the expectation we set on them as the on-field product,” Vozzo said.

“I’ve said it openly, the growth of that (23-27) group is really important to that critical question of how fast we can elevate, but I’m confident in them.

“They’ve got the aspiration and hunger to succeed.”