Essendon coach John Worsfold says the whole club should be proud of Aaron Francis’ imminent return to the senior side.

Francis missed around a month of the pre-season as he dealt with a mental health issue and Worsfold said commitment to a special program has yielded “great results” for the 20-year-old.

“Everything’s been working towards Aaron getting physically and mentally ready for the challenges of AFL footy,” Worsfold said on Thursday.

“We’ve seen in the past number of years a lot of players that have been affected with the mental anxiety of trying to maintain an AFL career. And if not managed well, they can disappear for longer periods.

“We’ve had a really strong working program in place and Aaron’s really committed to that and we’ve seen great results.”

Francis – who hasn’t been seen at senior level since round seven last year – has repeatedly put his hand up for selection this year after stringing together a number of terrific performances in the VFL, but Worsfold said he simply expects the defender to play his role this week.

“His form on the field has been really strong for the last six or eight weeks and we feel now he’s ready to step up and take on the AFL again,” he said.

“We just want Aaron to be Aaron, play his way, bring what he brings to the team. He obviously reads the play well, he can do some explosive stuff, take intercept marks, hits the ball hard and cleanly.

“So really we don’t expect him to do anything other than play his best footy with a strong mindset and understand his role for the team.”

The former first-round draft selection has played just five games in his three seasons to date and Worsfold says the club will continue to learn more about the role he can play for the side in the future.

“With Aaron now coming in – he’ll be playing alongside a different look backline with Hooker back there as well – it’s an opportunity for us all to keep learning.”

Worsfold said there has been a significant change in Francis since returning to the club in March.

“Everyone’s been rapt for Aaron all the way, we’ve seen massive change in him around the club.

“It’s a credit to everyone that we’ve been very supportive, really around just helping Aaron be the happy young man that he should be, understanding that a big part of his life is AFL footy and that’s where we can impact the most.

“That certainly wasn’t the priority – getting him back playing footy. The number one priority was let’s get him settled and focused on where he wants to be.”

He praised Francis for his attitude this year and said the remainder of the playing group are thrilled to have him back.

“Aaron’s really bought into a committed program to help himself and it’s great to see him playing excellent footy,” Worsfold said.

“The guys, as I said, have seen a really significant difference in Aaron and they’ll be rapt to run out with him.”

Francis and the Bombers will aim to keep their season alive against Sydney on Friday night, with the first bounce set for 7:50pm at Etihad Stadium.