Regardless of Sunday’s result, Essendon fans can sleep easy knowing they have a core group of young players ready to take the club forward.
It may sound strange to almost disregard the outcome of the game, but this season had an asterisk next to it from the outset anyway and nothing has changed.
Admittedly, the Bombers were favourites and would have expected to win, but the result will have little impact on their 2017.
If anything, the option of drafting the best young player in the country in four months may prove to be a blessing in disguise stemming from Sunday’s result.
Alas, the wooden spoon many predicted would head to Tullamarine for the first time in 83 years now looks all but certain to eventuate.
But as Fox Sports News reporter Julian De Stoop wrote this week, the Bombers have hope despite a heavily tilted win-loss 2016 record.
Zach Merrett, Darcy Parish, Orazio Fantasia and Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti exemplify the club’s exciting future.
Understandably, they just require more help from senior players. The influx of Bombers will doubtless ease the pressure and workload on these immature bodies.
The latest youngster to impress is 18-year-old Aaron Francis, who made his long-awaited debut against Brisbane.
Selected with pick No.6 in last November’s national draft — one pick after Parish — the very prospect of a senior debut appeared to be a long shot when he missed five weeks with a calf injury earlier this year.
He didn’t play his first competitive game until Round 9, but in recent weeks has come into his own at VFL level.
While his raw numbers haven’t been huge, his intercept marking has proved a standout. It is this element of his game that shone brightest on Sunday.
Playing largely in defence, Francis flung himself into marking contests with complete disregard for his own wellbeing.
He clunked seven marks, five of them intercept and four contested. No player on the ground had more contested grabs than Francis. Not Joe Daniher. Not anyone.
Indeed anyone who watched him play VFL in recent weeks would not be surprised, with the teenager averaging four intercept marks per outing this season — numbers that, if replicated, would place him at the apex of this statistic at AFL level.
At 191cm, Francis plays above his numerical height. He’s fearless and takes the game on and strong in the clinches.
On a poor day for John Worsfold, his team and the largely Bomber-friendly 34,000 fans that turned up to Etihad Stadium, Francis was a shining light.
“I think he was sensational,” former Bomber Adam Ramanauskas told ABC Grandstand post-game.
“He’s aggressive in the air and on the ground which I like and he’s quite composed when he has the ball in hand.
“That fitness level is the key over the summer so he can play for four quarters. I’ve been very impressed.”
Francis was the end product of Essendon’s trade with St Kilda, which saw the club gain another top 10 pick in November’s draft and lose Jake Carlisle to Seaford.
And like Carlisle, Francis has the ability to play at both ends of the ground.
Late in the piece, when any prospect of victory had washed away, Francis drifted forward and took his fourth contested mark for the afternoon.
Although he missed the shot at goal, Ramanauskas was gushing in his praise.
“His hands are just so clean,” he said.
“He doesn’t bobble the football. It just sticks. He’s one positive Bomber fans can take home today.”
When the dust on the 2016 season settles, it won’t be the games that Essendon supporters remember, it will be the players: Merrett in the midfield, Parish and McDonald-Tipungwuti on the flanks and Fantasia up forward.
And now it is Francis who has entered the fray.
