The versatility of Liam Duggan, who has also demonstrated his leadership qualities when taking on the acting captaincy role, has been important to the Eagles in the last couple of seasons.

Duggan, recruited as a midfielder with #11 in 2014, has played much of his 155-game career in defence, but was sent back into the middle against Essendon.

In the absence of Dom Sheed he worked alongside Tim Kelly, Andrew Gaff, Elijah Hewett and Xavier O’Neill to match motors with a highly-regarded Essendon midfield.

Duggan, likely to be prominent alongside Kelly and Oscar Allen in the Club Champion Awards next month, had 29 possessions, seven of them contested, and sent the Eagles inside the attacking arc nine times.

He also took six marks, won five clearances and gained a tick under 700 metres from those possessions with his penetrating left foot enabling the Eagles to get behind the Essendon defensive set-up.