RETIRED Bomber champion Jobe Watson says Essendon has a better list than in any of his 15 seasons at the club.

Watson played 220 games for the Bombers from 2003-17 but won just one final, way back in 2004, his second season.

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The 32-year-old, who retired at the end of the season, told Gary Ablett’s website Exclusive Insight he was excited about the Bombers list.

“They’ve done an incredible job,” Watson said.

“They’ve got the most talented list since I’ve been at the club.

“For them to be able to utilise that and capture that talent I think it’s a really exciting period for the footy club.”

The Dons will go into 2018 after a bumper trade period that yielded GWS gun mid-forward Devon Smith, mercurial Bulldog Jake Stringer and pacy running defender Adam Saad.

The son of club great Tim Watson, 2003 father-son pick Jobe Watson was the Essendon 34’s figurehead during the supplements saga that tore the club apart.

He made a triumphant return to the game in 2017 after a 12-month suspension that threatened to end his career.

He says he’s glad he did it.

“Footy has meant so much to my family and that’s one of those things that I really loved about coming back was being able to share those experiences with my nieces,” Watson said.

“That’s the thing I most enjoyed about coming back and playing these past 12 months.

“My niece came to the game and she could support me and come down to the rooms. When you’re young (as the son of a player) you sort of take that for granted because that’s all you had, that’s what you knew, but that’s not what everyone else was able to experience.

“So to be able to share that experience with someone else, I found it really fulfilling.”

Watson said the expectation of being the son of a club legend made his early years in the AFL system tough.

“I see father sons who come into the club and they’re probably a little bit underdeveloped to other guys because they feel like they don’t want to show people how much it meant to them (to make it in footy like their father) and that’s how I felt,” he said.

“Even though mum and dad were incredibly supportive, it was more about ‘if I really tell people how much I’d love to be a footy player and I don’t (make it) will I lose an identity because of that?”