Now that skipper Jobe Watson has recommitted to the cause, the Bombers' prospects are brighter still. And not only because of the obvious on-field benefits the three-time best and fairest winner can provide.

For Watson and 11 other senior players suspended, 2016 was a constant battle against the odds, one which resulted in the club's first wooden spoon since 1933. But it was also a season in which the club rediscovered its soul. And now comes the business of making up for lost time.

Had Watson decided to pull the pin on his AFL career, he would still have been an obvious rallying point for those teammates who remained. Instead, he'll be leading the charge, those colleagues even more determined to do everything within their power to make what remains of his career as successful as possible.

Watson's teammates know they owe him that. And even those football fans who demand he hand in his 2012 Brownlow Medal - and that will undoubtedly be delighting in the prospect of being able to yell "drug cheat" over the fence - will concede that next to former coach James Hird, no Essendon figure became the public face of the drug scandal more than the club captain.

Hird mainly suffered in silence. Watson instead was the man who for three full seasons had to largely shoulder the burden publicly. And even well before the Court of Arbitration for Sport banned him and 11 teammates for this season, the extent of the physical and mental toll had become increasingly obvious.

Though he'd started the 2015 season in typically bullocking style, his performances began to wane, a groin injury taking a toll, but so too the constant stress.

Stress not only to do with uncertainty about his playing future as WADA appealed the original AFL Tribunal's finding that 34 past and present Essendon players should not be suspended, but in having to answer any and every question posed by the media and the football public about the drugs saga on a daily basis.

To those who'd watched closely the deterioration of both his form and seemingly his motivation, the shoulder injury which prematurely ended that season came almost as a relief. The figure who again did the media rounds before heading off on a winter break to Europe looked pale, gaunt, and even depressed.

But the enforced year off appears to have been, in playing terms, a godsend. When Watson recently returned from his long spell overseas and resumed training, he appeared in better physical shape than he'd been for some time.

And the progress made in an on-field sense by Essendon in his absence will have been no small boost, either.

The Bombers have much better midfield prospects now than when Watson last played, the result that there shouldn't be nearly as much midfield responsibility upon a player who will be 32 by the time next season begins.

Essendon uncovered some midfield gems this year in Darcy Parish, who finished fourth in the Rising Star award, and runaway best and fairest winner Zach Merrett. Orazio Fantasia has been another major find.

Of the 10 banned players who will return to the Bomber fold in 2017, seven are midfielders. Along with Watson, there's another best and fairest winner in Dyson Heppell, David Myers, Travis Colyer, Brent Stanton, Heath Hocking and Ben Howlett.

That's instant depth and a fair bit of quality. It means that the grunt work will be spread far more evenly, and also gives Watson far more licence to spend longer periods closer to goal.

A smart player with great physical strength, in his last two full seasons of 2012-13 Watson averaged at least one goal per game. That figure could rise significantly as Essendon coach John Worsfold looks to manufacture more scores from a forward set-up which could average only 65 points per game this year.

The on-field pluses are obvious. But even they aren't as great as the motivational value for Watson's teammates of having their captain in the firing line alongside them.

Because, if after the toll the past four seasons took on him, Watson has found sufficient fire in the belly to give it another crack, those players who've sat it out, as well as the new faces Essendon have discovered in their absence, haven't got many grounds for not giving it everything next year.