Essendon assistant coach James Kelly reveals why Bombers are back on track

Forget the doom and gloom. Few clubs have benefited more from the AFL shutdown than Essendon, with the club’s once huge injury list in much better shape. Among them is the man who could change the game for the club’s ruck division.

Dyson Heppell celebrates a goal.

Conor McKenna will bounce out of isolation on Monday morning and into Essendon’s Hangar to train.

Patrick Ambrose’s three-month PCL injury will cost him a single AFL game after he joined full training on Saturday.

Lost in the doom and gloom over Joe Daniher’s latest setback was young ruckman Sam Draper’s return to training as insiders shake their heads at his size, athleticism and scope for improvement.

Like few other clubs the two-month shutdown has left Essendon vastly improved upon the last time we saw them.

Essendon assistant coach James Kelly takes the Herald Sun through the club’s progress since that last-gasp victory over Fremantle in Round 1.

1. MCKENNA IS BACK

Not only is homesick Irishman out of quarantine, he recently declared he wanted to win finals at Essendon before he returned home.

“He’s out,” Kelly said of a 14-day quarantine that ended Saturday.

“He wasn’t at the club (Saturday) but he goes into Covid-testing like everyone else on Sunday.

“Everyone was speculating about if he would come back and everyone is excited that he’s back. Whether you brought into that speculation or not, he’s a great person to have around the place. He brings so much energy and enthusiasm and you need people like that. You are really happy with a player of his quality when he says something like that (about staying). Now it’s our duty of care to Conor to make sure he enjoys his time here and definitely wants to come back. We feel like we have a good program here he is comfortable with.”

Conor McKenna is back. Picture: Getty Images

2. THE DEFENSIVE DEPTH

Patrick Ambrose might be footy’s most underrated defenders, taking all the opposition big dogs last year for the Dons.

His February PCL tear has healed and Cale Hooker is also back from summer hip issues.

“Paddy had his first full session (on Saturday), he was in full contact and he’s going really well. We are happy with his progress. He is the kind of player who everyone loves playing with. He is a super hard worker, brave, tough, does his job and you never question what you get from him.

“Hooker is in full contact, he’s all good. It’s been the silver lining for a lot of guys, rehab for nine weeks but you only miss one game of footy. Hooksy and a few other guys have come back in really good shape.”

3. SO WHO MISSES OUT?

As Essendon’s backline coach Kelly has to slot in his returning stars alongside improving youngsters including Mason Redman, Aaron Francis and pre-season revelation Brandon Zurk-Thatcher.

“It’s always good to have those kind of selection headaches. We have a lot of talented players, albeit someone will be disappointed and we have to make hard calls.

“Frank (Francis) has been really consistent. He is positioning himself well, his confidence continues to improve in the air and with the ball in his hands and he just keeps getting better and better every year.”

Patrick Ambrose is due to return from injury. Picture: Michael Klein

4. THE RUCK PRODIGY

Young ruck prodigy Sam Draper put together such exceptional VFL form last year St Kilda offered him a hefty four-year deal.

At 203cm the former soccer player had strung together such an impressive form line in the early rounds of the year he was on the verge of a debut before tearing his ACL.

Kelly confirms Draper, who ignored those riches to re-sign with Essendon, was only minutes from a potential debut when injured moments before being rested at half time to play the next week.

Now he’s back and almost ready to return.

“We were thinking we would give him an opportunity to play the next week by resting him. He had been in the mix for a few weeks and we decided to rest him to give him the best opportunity to play,” Kelly said.

“(Saturday) would have been his first real main session bar a few contact things and he got through well. He’s an exciting prospect, a really athletic guy and a big powerful kid and it will be good to see where his career goes. I am his duty-of-care coach and have watched his progress and he had a few minor setbacks but we could see why there was that interest in him when he hadn’t played a game. Sam hasn’t played for a long time but we can see the upside in what he can do.”

5. THE GAME STYLE

Essendon was determined to implement a high-pressure, forward-handball game similar to Richmond’s premiership winning tactics over summer

And while they had to hold off a Fremantle charge late in Round 1, Kelly said there were plenty of positive signs despite the tactics being a work in progress.

“All in all we were pretty happy with Round 1. The difficult thing after such a long time between Round 1 is refreshing everything with the players but we are retraining it.

“A lot of the stuff defensively we worked on last year so nothing really changes but some of the offensive stuff was a work in progress.

“The pressure was pretty good, there were periods in Round 1 where Fremantle had trouble exiting the ball from their forward line and we were able to hold it in there. They are the indicators you look for.”

6. BIG BUD

Round 2 opponent Sydney displayed its attacking wares in Round 1 without Lance Franklin, but Kelly admits his recent injury will make the Swans less fearsome on Sunday June 14.

“Yeah, I think as an opposition coach you are always a better coach when Buddy is not in the team.

“You don’t want to see anyone get injured but if it helps your chances of winning a little more, at the end of the day you are happy with that.”

7. THE SKIPPER IS BACK

“I feel like he’s progressing really well,” says Kelly.

“I can’t tell you whether he’s going to be cherry ripe for Round 2 but he’s pretty close. He’s moving well, he looks good out there but I just don’t know the exact detail of his program.”

Dyson Heppell is chance to play in Round 2. Picture: Getty Images

8. THE VERSATILE FORWARD LINE

In Round 1 new recruit Jacob Townsend added hardness and a trio of goals, with Jake Stringer, Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti, Devon Smith, Orazio Fantasia and Darcy Parish among the small and medium-sized forwards on display.

Kelly believes the club’s fastball movement plays into the talent on display, even if Joe Daniher seems some time away with his continuing groin issues.

“The strength of our forward line has been our speed and ability to get in behind defences. Having Shaun McKernan and Jake Stringer there straightens us up but the way we are attacking will complement the personnel.

“We have a lot of exciting players who went through there in Round 1, with Devon Smith back and Darcy Parish, Fantasia, Tippa, they are a lot of really quick, talented players.”

9. THE HANDOVER

Nine years after the Mick Malthouse-Nathan Buckley handover continues to generate headlines, the Bombers’ version seems to be going swimmingly.

No doubt there will be potholes and setbacks, but Kelly says the summer could not have gone better.

Ben “Truck” Rutten and John “Woosher” Worsfold seem to be combining so well they might need a new nickname.

“Trucker”?

“Troosher”. “Wucker? Definitely not “Wucker”.

“It has been really smooth,” Kelly says of the handover.

“Decisions like this get made and people realise it puts pressure on the two of them to work and make the relationship work. And I can’t fault it so far. They communicate well the whole time so it’s definitely working.”

MORE AFL NEWS:

Injury watch: Who is fit and who is in trouble ahead of the AFL’s return on June 11

Ask Robbo: Mark Robinson answers your burning football questions

Travis Cloke slams ‘bull****’ claims Nathan Buckley – Mick Malthouse handover cost Pies flag

Originally published as Essendon assistant coach James Kelly reveals why Bombers are back on track