Essendon Performance Coach Hayden Skipworth says he's been impressed by the players willingness to do extra work throughout the pre-season.
Skipworth spent seven seasons in the AFL as a player before turning his attention to a coaching career with the Bombers.
Players and coaches are in the middle of a two-week break, with the pre-season set to resume early next month.
“It has been the best I’ve been a part of in all footy to be honest,” Skipworth said.
“To have so many guys eager and willing to learn, staying around doing extras, getting in early doing extras pre-Christmas – I’ve never seen before.
“It has been a superb lead-in to Christmas and touch-wood we haven’t had too many concerning injuries, so most of the guys have been able to get through a fair bit of a workload.
“The general vibe has been the best I’ve seen it pre-Christmas.”
Skipworth, who looks after the forwards, will have several new options at his disposal in attack in 2017.
Josh Green and James Stewart have joined the Club and Cale Hooker returns after booting 20 goals as a forward in ten games during the second half of 2015.
“We’re a very young forward line and to have a mature guy and a mature body up there … he’s (Hooker) super competitive and provides a good option and his contested marking is as good as anyone in the AFL,” Skipworth said.
“He’s got some really good attributes that would complement our forward line.
“Obviously we know he can play back – he’s been an All-Australian defender but we’re trying to train him up to be flexible.
“We have (Michael) Hurley who can go forward as well, (Patrick) Ambrose started his career as a forward and Mitch Brown played forward last year, so we’re trying to create some real flexibility with our key (position players).”
Skipworth said the forwards have spent time training with the midfielders in an effort to ensure the ball transitions smoothly through the different areas of the ground.
“Individually we want to get better with our leading patterns, marking craft and goal kicking,” he said.
“But as a team we’ve been working on training our patterns together – we’ve been doing a lot of pattern based training with the midfielders, so we’re getting on the same page.
“We’ve obviously got guys coming in new to the Club and guys returning so we’re trying to get all of the forwards on the same page with the ‘mids’ and the backs as well.”
Skipworth on the recruits
Josh Green
“He’s been in rehab unfortunately for most of it – he came in with a bit of a foot issue but he’s got his body in good shape and he’s just started joining in drills and he’s certainly an exciting talent for us moving forward.”
James Stewart
“He hasn’t missed a session. He only had a three-week block off because GWS went so well in the finals.
“He started day one with the young guys which is a reflection of his attitude and desire to get better.
“He has fitted in really well and he’s going to give us some real competition for spots with our keys (forwards).”
Josh Begley
“He’s a strong powerful guy. He knows he needs to work on his endurance but he’s got genuine speed and genuine power and he’s quite physically mature for his age.
“He’s fitted in really well and he’s almost like a bit of a cult figure for the forwards this year.”
