AFL 2025: Essendon will ‘relocate resources’ to medical space after staggering injury toll

There will be a change at Essendon next year in the wake of a staggering injury run that means 16 players are unavailable to play GWS.

Essendon will reallocate time and resources to player health next year after this season’s cruel spate of long-term injuries.

The Bombers face GWS without 16 players this Thursday after Nate Caddy, Ben Hobbs, Will Setterfield and Nic Martin joined a tall list of sidelined players.

Caddy and Hobbs are set to return next week, but Martin and Setterfield have been ruled out indefinitely.

Youngster Elijah Tsatas then also suffered a hamstring setback during the captain’s run in the hours after coach Brad Scott’s Wednesday press conference.

Scott has been the barometer of optimism this season, insisting the opportunity provided to the young Bombers had unearthed future stars.

But he confirmed the club would undisputedly need to upgrade its medical space after such an arduous campaign.

“I am not deep in the weeds in that space, I’ve got a job to do in the short term,” Scott said.

“This is a good example, a five-day break, there’s no time to be getting distracted from what I need to do.

“I do have the utmost confidence in the people who are looking at our program (but) there’s no doubt we will relocate resources to that space.

“We know better than anyone this year how important it is to get your players out fit and available.”

Will Setterfield (left) and Nic Martin joined the Bombers’ injury list last week. Picture: Morgan Hancock/Getty Images

Scott was confident the adversity the Bombers had faced would forge a more resilient group.

“I mean I think everyone would like to go out and win all the time and for life to be good,” he said.

“But if you want to get better at anything, whatever your chosen field of endeavour, you’ve got to experience adversity.

“If you don’t, you just won’t improve. As I said, we didn’t set out at the start of the year to break any records in terms of debutants.

“But that’s the opportunity that’s created for us. We are extremely lucky to do what we do.

“There are moments, don’t get me wrong, where we all – including me – feel sorry for ourselves, but we’ve got to bounce out of that really quickly and focus on what we can control.”

The Bombers will unveil yet another debutant this week in mid-season draftee Liam McMahon.

He started the season at Carlton in the VFL and has a chance to finish it as one of the Bombers’ first-choice forwards.

Scott lauded McMahon’s natural ability to read the play, labelling him a forward few in the game present better than.

“He’s just a very crafty forward, he finds a way to impact the game,” he said.

Groin soreness to Nate Caddy (pictured) has opened the door for Liam McMahon to debut. Picture: Josh Chadwick/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

“He’s one of those players, you have to spend a lot of time teaching forward craft (but) he’s, I don’t like using the term, but he’s a bit of a natural forward.

“He reads the ball really well, he reads the cues of the opposition, he’s a guy I’d like to kick the ball to if I was kicking the ball in the forward 50.

“McMahon presents better than most players in the competition and he’s done it, albeit at VFL level.

“He’s had to work so hard and I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for players who get overlooked … he’s not taking this opportunity for granted.”