Essendon has made one change to its line-up with young on-baller Darcy Parish joining the side ahead of its crucial clash with St Kilda at Marvel Stadium on Saturday.

The 21-year-old was overlooked for selection in the Bombers’ round one defeat due to midfield depth but made a big statement in an outstanding five-goal performance in a VFL practice match against Coburg last Saturday.

Senior coach John Worsfold said he was thrilled with the promising Bomber’s response to the difficult selection call both on and off the field.

“The way he responded, even before he actually played, was what we were looking for,” Worsfold said on Thursday.

“(Parish) understood the reasons (for being left out in round one) and understood what he needed to continue to work on, which wasn’t too much, it was just that he was squeezed out of the midfield.

“But there’s an opportunity in the midfield this week and his form warrants coming in.”

Darcy Parish trains with his teammates at The Hangar ahead of his return to the senior side on Saturday.

Fellow youngster Jordan Ridley will make way for Parish this week, a decision Worsfold said was based solely on team balance.

“St Kilda can play a fairly small forward line at times, so we just felt our best line-up was to adjust for that.

“Unfortunately, Jordan was the taller defender that came out of the side this week.”

Worsfold said Ridley’s attitude and work ethic will ensure he takes the decision the right way.

“(I expect him to respond) exactly like what I spoke about with Darcy Parish last week, just understand it’s about the team, it’s about what the team needs for this week, and continue to build on his game.

“He’s been so diligent, he’s had a great pre-season and he’s ready for a really strong year.

“He’s not out of the side for any other reason than getting our best line-up for this week.”

While a knee-jerk reaction at the selection table may have been tempting following the side’s heavy loss to Greater Western Sydney in round one, Worsfold is committed to giving his players the chance to bounce back.

“It’s tough, because our form hasn’t been great over the JLT Community Series as well as round one, but the general feeling amongst the whole group is that we let ourselves down,” he said.

“We certainly want to give the players the opportunity to redeem themselves this week.

“They certainly understand that they need to perform this week for the team to make sure that we play our best footy.

“They were hurting, they were very disappointed and keen to atone for that effort and get back to playing the brand of footy that we showed for the majority of last season – and we want to even grow on that, so we’ve got to make sure that we get back to that.”

This weekend’s opponents scored a narrow one-point victory over Gold Coast in round one off the back of two strong pre-season successes.

Worsfold – who will coach his 350th game on Saturday – said the young and enthusiastic Saints are sure to challenge the Bombers throughout the contest.

“The Saints are going pretty well, they had good form through the JLT and they carried that into round one.

“Their side’s getting fairly settled, they’ve made a few changes with player positions that look exciting for them.

“(I have) no doubt that it is going to be a massive challenge.”

Worsfold urged all red and black fans to throw their support behind the team at Marvel Stadium for the Bombers’ first home game of the year.

“Last week was an aberration from how we want to be seen and how we want to play our footy, so come along and expect to see the Bombers back playing the brand that we all hope to see throughout the course of the whole year.”

The important match will begin at 4:35pm, but make sure not to miss out on the exciting pre-game build-up on Saturday.

FINAL TEAM

B – Adam Saad, Patrick Ambrose, Conor McKenna

HB – Mitch Brown, Michael Hurley, Darcy Parish

C – David Zaharakis, Kyle Langford, Dylan Shiel

HF – Dyson Heppell, Jake Stringer, Mark Baguley

F – Zach Merrett, Shaun McKernan, Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti

R – Tom Bellchambers, Andrew McGrath, Devon Smith

Interchange – Aaron Francis, Matt Guelfi, David Myers, Orazio Fantasia

Emergencies – Brandon Zerk-Thatcher, Jordan Ridley, Zac Clarke, Jayden Laverde

IN – Darcy Parish

OUT – Jordan Ridley (omitted)

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