IN SIX of the past seven seasons, Brent Stanton and Jobe Watson - sometimes both - have placed in the top three of Essendon's best and fairest. They have been the club's best, most reliable, and most consistent midfielders.

But this year, as the new Bombers midfield begins to take shape, the weight on their shoulders should be lighter... much lighter. There are others ready to challenge them for their mantle as Essendon's best two on-ballers.

"We've been developing a pretty strong core group of midfielders, and with a few young kids coming through now we can rotate through there a lot more than what we might have previously," Stanton said on Monday.

"So you'll see a fair few newer guys through the midfield."

Some will be newer faces, with Travis Colyer ready for more game-time through the middle of the ground, and last year's NAB AFL Rising Star Dyson Heppell likely to push up from half-back.

Some are just new-look. Jake Melksham has put on a few kilograms of muscle, as has Ben Howlett. All have had another summer of preparation and education, and Stanton said their support would be welcome.

"All these guys have really developed over summer in terms of their body size, their endurance and also just their overall football knowledge on how we want to play football," he said.

"It's always good to have support around, but it's not that we carried the load.

"We go out there to win every game of football and you do everything possible when you're out there to get those four points. It's just fantastic to see these young guys start to improve and take ownership of this football club."

In James Hird's first pre-season in charge of the Bombers, the players were in the learning phase of his revised game-plan. Stanton said this year, Hird's second, it has been strengthened. Things are starting to stick.

"We've been reinforcing to every player on our list that we need to know our game-plan and really stick to the game-plan for the whole game," he said.

"That comes with consistency, the building of bigger bodies, the endurance, and more experience into the young blokes who have really embraced the way we're going about our football here.

"As well as the senior guys, we've had to adapt over the last 12 months and now we can really take it on board and push forward."

Follow Callum Twomey on Twitter at @AFL_CalTwomey.

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