New Essendon assistant coach Blake Caracella has picked out young midfield duo Andrew McGrath and Darcy Parish as two players to watch ahead of the 2020 season.
After being part of the Richmond coaching team that’s won two premierships in three years, Caracella opted to return to the club he played 126 games for.
Despite only being at the club in a coaching for a couple of weeks, Caracella said he was excited by the likes of McGrath and Parish.
“The younger players I had for the first two or three weeks, the older players have just come back really,” he told the club’s website.
“A couple of the younger players are Andy McGrath; he’s training the house down to be honest, so I’m looking forward to him coming out in round one and playing.
“There’s Darcy Parish and quite a few young players with a bit of talent and hopefully we can all connect, play together and play well.”
Essendon have suffered a number of injury setbacks throughout pre-season, with Cale Hooker and David Zaharakis set for another stint on the sidelines.
Hooker failed to recover from persistent hip soreness while Zaharakis has picked up a new knee injury after undergoing post-season ankle surgery.