IN A powerful opening round win, the highlight for Essendon was the return of Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti from a short, but meaningful, retirement.

When McDonald-Tipungwuti announced he would be leaving the club he loved in 2022, the ripples went beyond The Hangar doors, with Bombers fans pouring out their grief on social media.

HAWKS v BOMBERS Full match coverage and stats

So when Brad Scott sat down with 'Walla' as one of his first jobs as Essendon's new coach, he knew it was going to be an important conversation.

"Once I'd spoken to him it was pretty clear he wanted to play AFL footy again," Scott said after his side comfortably accounted for Hawthorn in its season opener.

"It was just a question of where it was going to be."

With a need to repair some of the damage the club had been through in recent times, Scott knew McDonald-Tipungwuti's return would be a win for morale, but for him to go to another club could be equally as damaging.

"Credit to the club, (they) worked really hard on showing him the path forward," he said. "But also, we didn't make any promises."

The small forward came on in the final term on Sunday, gathering just four possessions, but he had the crowd going wild after kicking a memorable comeback goal.

"He's got a long way to go but he's worked extremely hard and deserved his spot in the team today," Scott said.

"I just thought it was a great moment for Essendon fans and for our club."

Scott was also quick to allay any fears over Dylan Shiel after the midfielder appeared to injure his shoulder in the fourth quarter of his 200th game, with the coach stressing it was just a hit to the body and that Shiel had told medical staff he was fine to get back into the contest.

While not much is expected from a rebuilding Hawthorn in 2023, Sunday's result took coach Sam Mitchell by surprise.

"I look at how we've trained, how we've gone about it (in the pre-season) ... and I look at the performance today and it's certainly not what we expected as a group," Mitchell said.

"We would have expected to be much better for much longer."

The coach did, however, take a few positives from the game, one being the debut performance of Cam Mackenzie, who was taken with pick No.7 in the 2022 AFL Draft.

Mackenzie gathered 18 disposals in a mature performance that put a smile on Mitchell's face.

"Cam's certainly got a bit of composure about him, he does some really nice things with the ball," Mitchell said.

"I think in the first 10 minutes of the game we couldn't find a mark at all ... and it wasn't until he got it and he found someone that it was like, 'Oh, that's what we've needed'.

"You get that from a first gamer and it bodes well for the future of the young man."