Youngster Jake Long has impressed coaches with his development in his first season at Essendon.

Rookie-listed Long was promising in the first three VFL matches this season, taking considerable steps forward.

However Long’s progress was put on hold in Round Four when he suffered a fractured thumb that would see him miss more than a month of football.

Long has since returned and has been back in action for the last four matches.

“We’ve seen some good impact from Jakey since coming back from his thumb injury,” VFL Co-Coach Paul Corrigan said.

“He’s been playing as a high forward and rotating throughout there as well.”

Long was impressive in last Saturday’s come-from-behind win.

The 19-year-old gathered 12 disposals, took four marks and laid an impressive eight tackles.

“Some of his pressure acts have been really up in the last month or so and we just want to see him keep improving week-in-week-out,” Corrigan said.

“Then hopefully along with that comes a bit more ball in hand and some scoring opportunities as well.”