Veteran Jason Winderlich believes the Bombers may have a future Luke Power on their hands with the club’s first round draft selection Zach Merrett resembling the Brisbane premiership star.

The Bombers forward was impressed by what he saw training closely with the club’s newest recruits while his senior teammates were on a high altitude camp in the US.

Merrett, selected at pick 26 in the National Draft, has shown his ability to win his own ball and use it well by foot during his junior career.

Winderlich is already impressed by what he has seen from the 18-year-old.

“Obviously we weren’t in the draft early but we got Zach Merrett at pick 26 and he looks like an absolute beauty,” Winderlich said.

“He is like a little Luke Power, really smart, left footer and a nice kick so hopefully I will be able to lead to a few of his nice disposals throughout the year.”

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Winderlich predicted there may be a few more surprise packets out of the club’s latest crop of new recruits.

“Another one that might surprise people is Fraser Thurlow, a rookie, a big guy from up on the Gold Coast,”

“We needed some ruck support with David Hille leaving so I think he will be great for the VFL side and might even get his chance at AFL level during the year.”

The impact of premiership star Paul Chapman since beginning at Essendon has impressed Winderlich.

“He is going well Chappy, I really like him, he is old school and he has been fantastic for the young guys here,” he said.

“I think it was great he didn’t go to Colorado so he got to know the young guys really well over the last three and a half weeks.”

“He has settled in among the group beautifully.”

No surprise to Winderlich has been the running of midfielder Brent Stanton throughout the pre-season although he has had one challenger.

“Brent Stanton stayed back from Colorado with me and he has been running brilliantly,” he said.

“Another one of the young guys that we got in was Johnny Rayner who was an 800m national champion.”

“It has been really good to watch Stants and Johnny run together so I think it will be interesting to see the guys who have come back and if they have made any ground on those two fellas.”

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