Essendon List and Recruiting Manager Adrian Dodoro says while the club will work for a trade for GWS star Dylan Shiel, it will not be as active in the NAB AFL Trade Period as in 2017.

Speaking before Shiel announced Essendon as his preferred destination on Tuesday, Dodoro said he didn’t expect the club to be “a really heavy trader” this year.

“We brought in some really good players last year, there was a bit of hype about where the club was at, but this year it’s really about staying focused and diligent,” Dodoro said.

“We’re on a bit of a path at the moment and we’ve got an agenda. We want to go about really, really quietly but nonetheless we’re pretty determined to get some good outcomes.

“One thing we’re really happy about is our list and where it’s going.”

Dodoro is buoyant about the side’s encouraging crop of youngsters, with several Bombers making big strides in 2018, but said it was important to be “really mindful” about the salary cap as the squad continues to develop.

“We’re a very young list, we’ve got a number of young players that are heading in the right direction and we have to be planning for their growth over the next few years,” he said.

“There’s been a lot of other exciting factors last season, we saw the emergence of some really good young players.

“I thought that Darcy Parish took a step, Aaron Francis took a step, we’re really excited about (Jordan) Ridley, (Mason) Redman, Kobe Mutch, (Brandon) Zerk-Thatcher and young (Sam) Draper in the reserves.

“All of them show a lot of ability and they’ve got the potential to be some really good AFL players and I’m sure I’ve missed a couple as well, so apologies to those.”

The Bombers struggled to find continuity in the side after losing a number of key players to injury throughout the year including star forwards Joe Daniher and Orazio Fantasia.

But Dodoro said the club’s powerful finish to the year – in which it won 10 of its last 14 games – had sparked plenty of excitement at The Hangar ahead of the 2019 season.

“There’s definitely a spring in the step of everyone around the club.

“(It is) about just going about our business – that’s what our mantra is right now – it’s just ‘put our head down, 2019 has started for this football club’.”

The side’s poor start to the season proved costly, but Dodoro said the missed opportunity has driven the squad to improve further and make its mark on the competition.

“What’s been really encouraging is the number of boys that are coming in in their spare time and doing fair bit of work in the gym,” he said.

“I was speaking to Dyson Heppell last night and he was saying how he’s just never seen so many boys coming in at this time.

“You can see there’s a real fire in the belly of the group and there should be, there’s a really good opportunity going forward.

“We’ve got a really exciting list, we’ve got a lot of talent and we’re really looking forward to seeing what they can do next year.”

This news is brought to you by Orchard, the club's Official Recruitment and List Management Partner.