Four days short of his 39th birthday and Dustin Fletcher continues to win admirers and change matches.
Against the Bulldogs on Saturday night, Fletcher stood tall in the fourth quarter as the Bombers got back on the winners' list.
His five marks and five rebound 50s were crucial in repelling the Bulldogs, keeping them goalless for the final 20 minutes and securing an eight-point win.
In an arm-wrestle of a contest, he could well have been the difference.
And while Fletcher has always had an admirer in coach Mark Thompson, if Bulldogs boss Brendan McCartney wasn't one too, he is now.
"For every young kid watching the game, that's how hard you've got to try to win a game of footy," McCartney said.
"He's a phenomenal 38-year-old player ... how he's still doing it after 20 years, it's staggering."
"We banged it in (our fifty) 16 or 17 times in the last quarter for not a lot of return."
Essendon snapped a three-game losing streak and now have a platform for the rest of the season.
In their next six games, only Sydney come from the top eight of the AFL ladder, meaning Thompson's men have no excuses not to turn their 3-4 record into a positive ratio.
Thompson said his plan for the rest of the AFL season would be to harness the winning feeling.
"To let them see for themselves what it looks like - then how good it feels when you play really good football," he said.
"I would love nothing nothing more than to be a good attacking team and good defensive team.
"Some games, we get one or the other and tonight our attack was missing."
Still, their paltry return of 73 points was enough to defeat the Bulldogs, who led by 14 at half-time but now slump to 2-5.
The Western Bulldogs play Melbourne next Saturday night and may not be able to salvage their season without a win.
McCartney said the loss should be judged in the context of their opponents.
"Three weeks ago everyone was saying the Bombers could finish top four," he said.
"They had some really good players get up and get going.
"We do need to get a little better and poised in understanding what the game needs right now.
"We're going to keep looking for players that want to win as much as Dustin Fletcher does."
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