Essendon Coach John Worsfold says Aaron Francis’ off-season will have a ‘massive impact’ on his development. 

The first year player is involved in the Bombers VFL finals campaign after playing three senior matches earlier this year. 

When the VFL finals come to an end, Worsfold said the way Francis uses his break could set him up for 2017. 

“A big part of Aaron’s growth is just going to be the off-season and then the pre-season,” Worsfold told Bomber Radio. 

“In his eight or ten weeks off, he’ll head back to South Australia for a part of that but he’s already planning that he doesn’t want to go home for too long because he wants to be around here where he can do some work.

“Like for most of the young players, what they do in this next eight weeks off when the season finishes has a massive impact on how much ground they can make in their pre-season, which will then impact how well they’ll play next year.”

The Bombers secured Francis with the sixth pick in last November’s National Draft.

Calf problems at the start and end of the season saw him spend time on the sidelines but when he has appeared on the park there have been several eye-catching moments.

A long range goal and chase down tackle against Geelong in the VFL were the latest additions to Francis’ 2016 highlights reel.

“He’s an exciting player and a big part of the future for the Essendon Football Club,” Worsfold said.

“It was a real learning year for him and the fact we were able to give him a taste of AFL was a great learning curve for him – he understands where he sits. 

“He’s fully aware of how much hard work he’s got ahead of him but he’s got the talent obviously to be a very good AFL player – now it’s the workload to get him to that level to be able to show that.”