Forward Shaun Edwards has commended the culture built by Essendon VFL this season. 

After finishing fifth, the VFL Dons fell just one win shy of the big dance, bowing out in a Preliminary Final.

Edwards played 11 games for Essendon VFL in 2015.

“Obviously I broke into the team for the second half of the year, but it was good to come back and play some VFL finals,” Edwards said.

Edwards praised the side’s strong culture that had been built by the experienced trio of Marcus Marigliani, Kyle Hardingham and James Polkinghorne.

Polkinghorne and Hardingham missed just two games between them, and although Marigliani played 11 games, the Skipper’s impact was enormous.

“They’ve got a really good culture down there with ‘Polks’ (Polkinghorne), ‘Hardy’ (Hardingham) and ‘Rigga’ (Marigliani),” he said.

“So it was good to get back there and play with the younger guys and try and win a flag, but we just couldn’t get over the line.”