Essendon VFL are up and running in season 2025, with the energy of nine Club debutants helping propel the side to an 11-point victory over Williamstown on Saturday.

There were some standout performers – especially on the stats sheet – but new VFL Senior Coach Cameron Joyce was just as willing to praise some of the more unsung roles on the day from Essendon’s 11 AFL-listed players.

With the exception of Isaac Kako featuring at AFL level, the Bombers had an opportunity to field all of last year’s draft class together in the same game, making for some exciting signs throughout the win.

Joyce sat down with essendonfc.com.au to review the individual efforts from the weekend.

AFL-listed Bombers:

Todd Goldstein

30 hit-outs, 14 disposals, five marks, four clearances

‘Goldy’ had a really good battle with Tom Downie, who’s a really experienced ruck for Williamstown.

I thought he got the points in the end, he was used around the ground quite a bit for us as an option between the arcs and some of his leadership late in the game was really important.

He’s definitely (been a great mentor). His work with our rucks, whether it be Sam Draper and Nick Bryan or Kayle Gerreyn and Vigo Visentini has been really good, but also in terms of building connection with the midfielders as well.

Lewis Hayes

27 disposals, 16 marks

‘Hayesy’ was just really confident right form the word ‘go’.

He got his hands on the footy a lot and was pretty heavily involved in our ball movement from the back half, but where that really stemmed from was his defensive acts and positioning, which were big for his game.

He played on some good Williamstown forwards but just stayed proactive and really confident as I said.

He got a good opportunity down at Geelong (in the AAMI Community Series) against Jeremy Cameron and obviously when it comes to facing AFL talent, you’ll be coming up against the best every week. He’s staying focused on building that strong defensive mindset and the more he does that, the more he’ll also be able to impact with the ball like he did on the weekend and get involved in our offence.

Kayle Gerreyn

12 disposals, six marks, three goals

Kayle put himself in really good positions as a target for us forward of the footy.

A couple of his marks were contested and really strong, and he got on the end of a few with four shots on goal – we’re really pleased for him because he’s been working really hard.

We still like to have him pinch hitting in the ruck and to get him working a bit up the ground for us too. Just as important as him taking six marks were the contests he created for our smalls to get in the game as well.

Alwyn Davey Jnr

16 disposals, four tackles

Alwyn’s game really built as it went along and you could see that class with him.

He’s obviously missed a bit of footy and it was his first game back (from that meniscus injury), so it’s really exciting knowing what he’ll be able to bring for us in these next few weeks.

His tackling, chasing and general pressure acts were really evident and he was able to hit up some targets late in the game to generate important scores.

Luamon Lual

12 disposals, four marks, three tackles, one goal

I think ‘Luey’s been really consistent for us moving to the wing over this pre-season, shown by him being an AFL emergency over the weekend.

He runs really good patterns, he showed some strong defensive traits on Saturday and he’ll just keep learning and working on being a more damaging outside player on the wing.

Angus Clarke

18 disposals, eight marks

Angus’ offence from half back is certainly a massive asset for him.

His energy, his ability to drive his legs and deliver good balls inside 50 really set us up for some good looks, and he really closed the gap defensively on his opponents which was another positive.

More of a well-rounded game for him this week, so that’s a great start.

Rhys Unwin

12 disposals, five marks, five tackles, one goal

That high half forward role can be a tricky one but Rhys got involved a lot this week, which was great.

His late goal from the 50-metre arc was essentially the sealer for us. He’s got just that natural step and speed, which is great with the footy and also in putting pressure on, because he made things tough for Williamstown in transition.

In terms of the role he played, I thought he did it really well.

Zak Johnson

21 disposals, three marks

‘Johnno’s certainly a good user of the footy and we’re looking to keep working on that defensive side of the game with him, just to balance things up a bit.

By comparison to his pre-season games, he’d probably be the first to admit it wasn’t quite at that level on Saturday (36 disposals against Box Hill two weeks ago).

We’ve got plenty to work with on account of Zak’s talent, so we’re really excited with what he could be able to produce for us.

We’ll try to get him settled in a role early days and then look to find his progression from there.

Saad El-Hawli

10 disposals, five marks

We played ‘Saady’ for just the three quarters this week and I thought he started really well.

Just his pure speed and attack on the ball were great, he used it well and also really held his depth as a winger, which was an important focus for us.

He just keeps on improving – good signs.

Jayden Nguyen

17 disposals, three marks

A lot of Jayden’s ball winning this week came from his one-on-one efforts and his overall pressure.

He went back into defence this week after spending bits of training and some match play up forward in the pre-season – it’s not unfamiliar for him having spent most of his juniors as a back.

His ability to stay composed with the ball stood out to me this week along with his usual attack on the ball and speed – he took a nice step forward in that role and kept some of their small forwards quiet.

Archer Day-Wicks

11 disposals, six marks, one goal

Archer played a little bit of midfield and has probably more so been used as a forward in the last couple of weeks.

He just continues to keep developing in those dual roles, he’s damaging off that left foot – he had three shots at goal and created some more scores for us on the weekend – we just want to keep focusing on him locking the ball in his half.

He’s certainly showing some nice traits at the moment.

Notable VFL-listed performances:

Jackson Hately

29 disposals, seven clearances

Xavier O’Neill

25 disposals, six marks, five clearances

Cam Nyko

17 disposals, seven marks, four tackles, three goals