Defender Tayte Pears has been a standout during Essendon’s opening month of pre-season training according to assistant coach Simon Goodwin.

The 22-year-old has played just 19 matches in the last two seasons due to numerous injury problems.

Goodwin said Pears had shown great form on the track since the team returned to training on November 1.

“I think it is great to see Tayte Pears out there on the track, we haven’t seen a lot of him over the last couple of years,” Goodwin said.

“Just to get him back out on the track, training and doing every session is really good for the football club.”

Goodwin also highlighted midfield pair Tom Bellchambers and Heath Hocking as players who have been ‘training the house down’ since returning to the track.

The Bombers are set to focus heavily on improving their skills in the lead up to Christmas after doing a lot of conditioning work since beginning pre-season.

“They are going terrific, we have been in a fairly heavy running phase for a period of time and now we are in December we are really starting to ramp our footy up,” Goodwin said.

“The guys are really embracing it and training to a pretty high level.”

“We have three weeks leading up to Christmas where we are going to go pretty hard for those three weeks and then they will get a good spell before regrouping come January.”

A number of draft hopefuls have been training with the club since the national draft with Essendon entering the pre-season draft on Tuesday with selection six.

“It is really important for the club to get this right with our pre-season selection,” Goodwin said.

“We have a spot on our list and we have had some guys here training who have been outstanding.”

“There is no doubt they are all very highly talented players who were all unlucky to miss out on the draft but in saying that we have a tough decision in picking one of them.”