The unique position of having a bye as early as round four has come at an opportune time for Essendon, according to GM – AFL Daniel McPherson.

Although the Club recently gained momentum with its first win of the season off a quick turnaround against Port Adelaide, McPherson believes a chance to reset and recuperate ahead of a key run of fixtures in the next month - Gather Round and Anzac Day included - will benefit the players in the long run.

With Elijah Tsatas and Archie Perkins both eyeing off potential returns for Saturday’s clash against Melbourne, the extra week of recovery time has been another bonus coming out of the early break.

“It’s a bit of an odd feeling to have a break so quickly but it’s come at a good time,” McPherson told essendonfc.com.au.

“We’ve got a few guys who have missed a bit of footy early on in the season and it just gives them an extra week to get up and get back into it, so it’s a good chance for the guys to refresh.

“We use this week wisely to freshen up and head over to Adelaide for Gather Round in pretty good shape.”

The round three win over Port Adelaide was an important step forward for the Dons, who’d endured a week of external criticism in the wake of a disappointing defeat to the Crows at the ‘G a week prior.

A four-goal run in the final term iced the result, with McPherson noting the surge in atmosphere from the Bomber fans’ collective voice under the Marvel Stadium roof as a key factor in the win.

“The noise and the energy that was created in the stand was really important in getting us over the line in the back end of that game,” McPherson said.

“(It was) a good result last week, so that’s important for us to have a bit of a spell coming off the back of a good win.

“Having that short break between those two games (Adelaide and Port) was really important as well. The coaching group and high performance guys did a great job in getting the boys back up and ready to go for the Port Adelaide game so quickly.

“We’ve still got a lot of work to do clearly but it was great to get some reward for effort last weekend and hopefully launch us into the next part of the season.”

The Dons’ growing pool of young talent have enjoyed opportunities to develop at both AFL and VFL level this season, with nearly all of last season’s draft crop fit and playing together frequently.

Continuing the Club’s focus on building strong connections between their AFL and VFL programs, McPherson’s excited to see how the youngsters can gel with more on-field opportunities as a unit.

“(The draftees have) settled in really well. I think the benefit of having a high number of draftees come through together is really positive,” McPherson said.

“They’re a nice, tight group, they get along really well together and luckily, they’ve all been fit and available to play, so they’re getting that opportunity to spend time training and playing together.

“Obviously, Isaac (Kako)’s playing in the senior team, but a lot of the other young guys are playing good footy in the VFL, learning their craft and learning off some more experienced guys around them as well.

“The connection between our AFL and VFL programs has been a focus over the last couple of years and that’s continued to grow over the summer and into the early parts of this season.

“As you would have seen, read and heard a lot over the last few months, we’ve got a very young list but we think there’s a lot of opportunity and a really bright future there.”