After losing four premiership players from its list at the end of last season, most people had written Essendon off before the 2003 season had even started. But in true Essendon spirit, the team gritted it out all year and made its sixth consecutive finals series. It was a hard fought battle to make the finals, after only having five wins on the board at the half-way mark of the year. Essendon gathered momentum in the second half of the season and played some pretty good football showing signs that the team has the talent to make a serious impact in years to come.

With season 2003 now come to an end, the positive signs are already there for 2004, with the development and improvement that some of the players showed this season. ""The majority of our list haven't even reached their peak or moved into their peak. Lucas and Lloyd for example are only 25-years-old and are moving beautifully into the next phase of their career,"" assistant coach Robert Shaw said.

""We are not going to have whole sale changes. If this is bottoming out, then I would hate to think what clubs do that finish 13th or 14th. It is the strength of our club and the strength of our coach that we can give our people an opportunity of finals even though we are not the best side in it. We have given them four finals in the past two years without setting the world on fire. And you have other clubs that have their foot flat to the floor and can't even get in. It is a culture thing at Essendon that we expect to play in the finals. I don't think we have had a great year. I think our first half was pretty ordinary but it was a good character year. It was a fighting performance and we kept our supporters in it and we gave them an opportunity to see finals football.""

There is some exciting talent on the list that Essendon supporters got to see play for the Bendigo Bombers this season. One of these players is rookie Courtney Johns. After overcoming a hip injury this season, Shaw indicated that Johns is likely to be elevated to the senior list. ""Courtney has had a bad injury which we have monitored over the course of the year. The games that he has played have been a bonus and I can say it is almost a certainty that he will come onto the senior list. Watson and Winderlich have unfortunately come out of under-18 and school footy a little bit underdone and the next step up in training has taken its toll on them. Our supporters can be comfortable that we have a good depth of exciting talent and we have to make sure that talent comes to the surface very quickly because we need an injection into the side,"" Shaw said.

Essendon will also be looking to possibly pick up an experienced mid-fielder in the trade/draft period. Shaw said the side needs an urgent injection of pace and this isn't likely to come from a new draftee. ""In the draft you are going to get a kid that is under-18. Unless you get a pick in the top two or three, like a Riewoldt or a Judd, it is very rare that a draftee will make an immediate impact. You look at the drafting of Adam Ramanauskas and it took him 30 to 40 games to establish himself,"" Shaw said. Even if you get a terrific kid, it is still a season to a season and a half before they establish themselves. There will be an opportunity for trading, but I can't talk too much about that because it would be unfair. We don't know Ramanauskas' future, but hopefully everything goes well for Adam and he does take his spot back on the wing, we need to arrange a trade for another similar type of player. I think that is what we need - a winger and half-back who covers a lot of distance with his running and kicking and we will try and address that in a trade situation.""