The Bombers young brigade is providing great cause for optimism according to Essendon’s List and Recruiting Manager Adrian Dodoro.

Orazio Fantasia secured the AFL’s final Rising Star nomination of the season following his 27 possession performance against Collingwood.

While the VFL side has won its way through to the Preliminary Final on the back of excellent contributions from a host of young players.

“There is a whole heap of young kids that we’ve brought in to the club and that’s going to be the exciting thing for our fans – to see a young group of kids that will give us sustained success,” Dodoro told ABC radio.

The Bombers enter this year's National Draft free from the sanctions that have restricted their ability to land top picks in the last two seasons.

“It’s been tough, it’s been really, really tough,” Dodoro said.

“There were the sanctions that were imposed but on top of that was the environment that was created through the whole ordeal.

“With that came a lot of challenges.

“The majority of the group has been fantastic, they’ve been resilient, they want to be here, they’re committed.

“We’ve just got to look forward from this point.”

Despite the heavy restrictions at the draft table, Essendon has still been able to land Zach Merrett, Fantasia, Patrick Ambrose, Kyle Langford, and Jayden Laverde.

With at least one pick at the pointy end of this year’s Draft, Dodoro is confident the Club is heading in the right direction.

“We’re in the draft again, blue skies, there will be a new coach coming on board, a lot of good young kids, our VFL team is going well so we’ve got to start harping on the positives,” he said.

“We’ve got a good foundation, we’ve got a good record of finding talent and I’m sure we’ll be ok.”