The unique circumstances surrounding Essendon’s playing list won’t result in its young players being exposed too early to senior football this season according to Coach John Worsfold.
The Bombers are missing 12 of their best players, but the addition of the eight new recruits signed to date, will help ease the burden on the young players with limited AFL experience.
“There is a balance between saying we can play them now because there is more spots available in the senior team – but if they’re physically and mentally not ready for it you can do more harm than good,” Worsfold said.
“The experience we’ve added on with our new listed players means we’re not pressured in to playing young kids if they’re not really ready.
“In saying that, there is definitely going to be opportunities for those guys to play AFL footy and we definitely expect them all to develop.”
One of those young players is Darcy Parish who was the Bombers top pick in last November’s National Draft.
His development is being aided by some of the experienced recruits the Dons have secured in recent weeks, including former Fremantle player Ryan Crowley.
“He (Crowley) gave Parish a couple of tips – he was conceding too much to Crowley in terms of space,” Worsfold said.
“Then when they played against each other on the Friday, Parish did a few things he mentioned to him and took the ball away from stoppages, so those things are happening already.”
The changes to the Bombers playing list has resulted in Worsfold tweaking his game plan ahead of the start of the home and away season next month.
“There is a slight adjustment not only in the way we want to play but in how quickly we introduce certain things,” Worsfold said.
“The biggest focus for us at the moment is to get the group to gel and understand each other – and to be able to communicate at the level required to play well together.
“In terms of strategic plays we’ll just pull back on those a little bit.
“We’ll be a bit more basic and add layers to that as the group get up and going.”
