SPOTLIGHT: ARCHIE ROBERTS

Essendon’s 2025 campaign has been nothing short of exhausting.

If it hasn’t been missed opportunities, then it’s been blowout losses. If it hasn’t been poor form, then it’s been trade rumours. If it hasn’t been injuries, then it’s been … well, injuries have been pretty much the story of the year.

Now, not many of the faithful went into the season with many expectations. Sure, a few surprising performances in the pre-season gave some optimism that a few shock wins might be on the cards, but that was merely an illusion that can so often be cast in the Jans and Febs of the year. 

The reality became evident sharply. 

Obviously, it would be remiss of me to not note the dire injury curse that has crippled the Bombers this year. To say the club is playing with the dregs of the list would be an understatement. But in all of the messiness that this season (mercifully close to completion for Essendon) there have been a few shining lights for fans’ hopes to cling to. 

And few have been brighter than the continued rise of Archie Roberts.

After debuting towards the backend of the 2024 campaign, having only been drafted the year prior (and as far back at pick 54, no less), Roberts has become one of the club’s most crucial members at rapid speed.

In the club’s most recent loss to Geelong last Friday night, the defender led the game in disposals with 33 touches to his name, registering 18 kicks and 7 marks in the process. Good numbers that aren’t just one-offs, either.

Across the entire season, the 19-year-old is marked as Above Average in disposals, tackles, marks, intercepts and ground ball gets. His handballing is Elite. He’s rated well when looking at contested possessions and Elite in uncontested possessions. These are good numbers for any player, but for a kid of Roberts experience and age they are exciting.

And if you consider the state of the Dons’ side this year, they become even more impressive.

Roberts has impressed across all aspects of his game in 2025. What might 2026 offer?

But potentially more thrilling for fans about Roberts performances is his leadership. From early on, it became very clear to those watching on that the Hampton Rovers product was a candidate for a leadership role - and even for my money - captain material

Roberts is a commanding presence down back. With a backline filled with some senior names like Mason Redman, Jordan Ridley (when he can get on the ground) and vice-captain Andy McGrath, Roberts appears respected. When the backline requires restructuring, Archie’s pointing and his voice feel like a constant across that half-back flank.

This kind of output would be fantastic and welcome by fans for the sort of player selected in the first round, hell, even the second. But to have collected the kind of player that Roberts is building to become at pick 54 … that’s crazy!

It feels even more crazy when you consider that Essendon didn’t have many bites at the apple in the 2023 AFL National Draft, but boy did they make them count. At pick 10, Nate Caddy became a Bomber, at pick 39, Luamon Lual found his way from Warrnambool and as I’ve said before, Roberts was pick 54. For Matt Rosa’s crew, that’s a good haul. Caddy is obviously on his way to stardom (that is, as long as he doesn’t get fully Essendon’d) and Lual has impressed in patches this season with his decisive decision-making and reliable kick. 

But how amazing is it that Roberts fell so far. Already, it has the makings of a ‘how did no one pick him earlier’. But I suppose that’s the way it goes, isn’t it, when you get to those higher picks? Guys slip through the cracks in the same way some guys jump higher than they should.

At the end of the day, it’s to Essendon’s favour that he was left behind - because he’s quickly becoming one of the club’s most important players. I’d go as far to say that if we were picking the Dons best-22 today, he’d be one of the first five to ten names called. 

To have a player like that flourishing in the red and black, in a year that has felt so goddamn bleak at times, is truly joyous.

The Bombers only have a few more weeks of pain to go in season 2025. The fans have been promised significant overhauls in the club’s medical and training regime, to try and end the injury woes. Even some of the boys look like they’re on their way to Qatar and the USA to see the best there is to try and get them healthy. 

But it’s also important that the club get this draft right.

At pick 54, Roberts was a steal! But can Essendon find another in this year’s AFL National Draft?

The Bombers have a slew of picks and are likely to get more by the end of the trade period, so important and precise decisions must be made to make sure that this list continues to build the right way. 

No more ‘best player available’ but rather ‘best player for the position we need’.

Matt Rosa and co have done well so far at the draft table, but this year’s silly season looks to be the most important one to get right since the 2020 AFL National Draft, where the Dons had three top-10 picks to play with. Now, no one wishes to bash the boys taken in that bizarre and challenging year, nor is it their fault how things have transpired, but I think I speak for most fans when I say that Essendon must not repeat the mistakes of ‘20 again.

The club must get it right.

The club must draft the right guys.

And who knows, maybe we’ll find the next Archie Roberts somewhere down the line.

Go Planes.