The VFL Bombers team have recorded a 35-point victory against Geelong in their final practice match of the pre-season at the True Value Solar Centre on Saturday afternoon.

After a tight contest up to half time, Essendon opened the floodgates in the third term kicking five unanswered goals, ultimately sealing the win.

Coach Hayden Skipworth commended his side for playing until the final siren, particularly on a hot Melbourne afternoon.

“We just encouraged them to play right until the end,” said Skipworth

“We were down some rotations late due to Alex Browne and Orazio Fantasia coming off for (match time) restrictions, but we just encouraged them to play the way we wanted right until the end.”

Will Hams is expected to give AFL selectors headaches in the coming weeks after a best-on-ground performance, as the hardened midfielder continued to play himself into form.

“Hams was back to his best being really combative on the inside and winning a lot of clearances for us,” Skipworth praised.

The coach also paid credit to midfielders Anthony Tipungwuti and Orazio Fantasia who were arguably also those most influential in the win, both providing some invaluable pace and electricity for the team all day long.

‘Tippa obviously gives us a lot of run and outside speed,”

“And Raz was similar to Tippa, he gave us a lot of run off the half-back and a lot of overlap.

“He used the ball really well.”

First-year forward Jayden Laverde also showed some promise booting three crafty goals, giving Bomber fans glimpses of what’s to come for the youngster.

“I though Jayden played a forward role really well and even played more positions and performed like the powerful and strong guy like he is.”

Skipworth conceded that the final hit was a solid platform from which they can kick-start their season beginning next Sunday.

“We played the way we wanted to play and had a really good hit out going into round one,”

“We now need to train well and prepare well. We need to train at a high level, both VFL and AFL level and hopefully can recover well from the game today.”

The VFL side will enjoy an eight-day break before their season gets underway on Sunday 19 April against Sandringham at the Trevor Barker Oval.

VFL Practice Match:

Essendon 19.5 (119) defeated Geelong 13.6 (84)

Goals: J. Langford 3, Laverde 3, Coghlan 3, Hams 2, Kavanagh 2, McKenna 2, Edwards, Giles, Long, K. Langford

Best: Hams, Coghlan, Fantasia, McDonald-Tpungwuti, K. Langford, Laverde and J. Langford