Essendon's first to fourth-year players have begun pre-season training along with a contingent of senior players as the club sets its sights on their opening-round match against the Suns.
Essendon's pre-season training will continue over the coming weeks as part of their pre-Christmas training block, with the whole team not expected back for another two weeks yet.
Senior leaders like Zach Merrett and Andrew McGrath have returned to the club to commence training early, but assistant coach Daniel Giansiracusa hopes that the team's young core can use their voice and accountability to drive standards during training.
"There's real onus and a responsibility on the players to come back in pretty good nick, Brad was very clear with the players when they left," Giansiracusa said.
"They do get a long break, it's 12 weeks in the end โ when I was playing, it used to be that you'd run for four weeks, then the skills would start, but now we're right into it straight away.
"With the whole group, we've only got three weeks, (so it's) a great chance for the first-to-fourth-year players to really get a head start, and they've attacked it really well.
"They're smart, those older guys. As I said, it's only a short time, and it's a lot more difficult kicking the footy by yourself rather than with a group, so it's great to see them around, and it's good leadership. We still encourage those first-to-fourth-year players to own the group and bring their voices out.
"It'll almost be like the whole group is back next week and officially the week after, those guys and their leadership's important to that, but we're looking for others to step up also."
The Bombers have been givenย four Thursday night games ahead of 2025 as they look to bounce back from narrowly missing finals in 2024.
