Essendon's non-selected players were put through their paces in a scratch match against St Kilda in Maroochydore on Friday.

The returning Jayden Laverde, Aaron Francis and Ned Cahill were among nine Bombers who featured in the 14-a-side game (St Kilda's players filled both sides) played over three 20-minute thirds.

Development coach Leigh Tudor has reviewed each of the players' performances below.

Jayden Laverde

"He's worked really hard to get back and has made a pretty quick recovery from such a big injury, so his effort to get back has been sensational. We threw him down back and he was excellent. He intercepted the ball, read the flight, beat his man one-on-one and looked like a really attacking half-back. His pressure was outstanding and he got a lot of the ball as a backman. He looked really comfortable in defence."

Aaron Francis

"After a slow start in the first third where the opposition had a lot of inside-50 entries, his second and third thirds were really good. It was the Francis we know - intercepting marks, winning his own ball in one-on-one contests and using the ball very well."

Ned Cahill

"Ned played two of the three thirds coming back from his quad injury and got through the game well. In wet and slippery conditions, he got to the fall of the ball and set up a few scoring opportunities. It was good to see him come back and get amongst it."

Kobe Mutch

"'Mutchy' played as an inside mid. He was pretty much our only midfielder in there for the day, so it was pretty difficult for him playing alongside the St Kilda blokes. In the wet and slippery conditions, he was very clean inside, won a lot of his own ball and played a pretty good game in light of the circumstances he was under."

Ross McQuillan

"Ross played on the wing for the first time. He's pretty much played the whole year down back. He showed he was smart enough to do it, attacking well when we had the chance and getting back to defence to help out. He showed there were possibilities for us to play him more on the wing as well."

Noah Gown

"It was tough for the forwards as there weren't a lot of inside 50s coming our way, so they had to fight really hard when it did come in. His work-rate was really good and he competed hard, but there just weren't many opportunities for him to get his hands on the footy."

Shaun McKernan

"Like 'Gowny', Shaun played forward and had limited opportunities. He competed hard in the opportunities he had, and in wet conditions, often brought the ball to ground in aerial contests for our small forwards."

Nick Bryan

"Nick played half the game as a ruck and the other half as a forward. His ruck craft was strong, he followed up his own work and he competed really hard."

Cian McBride

"It was pretty tough for the backs with less numbers and torrential rain. We haven't seen him play a lot of wet weather football. It was tough for him, but he just kept battling and learnt a lot from the game."