From the backline: Sam Edmund predicts how Essendon could line up in Round 1 next season Joe Daniher kicks his first goal in AFL football. He could explode this season. HERALD Sun football experts go deep inside each AFL club to predict how each team could line up in Round 1 next year. First-up - Essendon. IN: Paul Chapman, Shaun Edwards, Kurt Aylett, Zach Merrett, Orazio Fantasia, Patrick Ambrose, Fraser Thurlow OUT: Scott Gumbleton, Stewart Crameri, David Hille, Nathan Lovett-Murray, Luke Davis, Hal Hunter, Alwyn Davey This is one of the most intriguing questions for next season. After all the off-field dramas, it can be easy to forget that at the heart of the club is a team of footballers that believes it can play finals next year. At the helm is the man responsible for some of the most attractive football played in the modern era. Mark Thompson took Geelong to flags in 2007 and 2009. Overseeing a team with elite intercept defenders, Thompson's Cats took on all-comers with a daring run-and-gun style that owned the corridor. But have three years out of senior coaching changed his views? Have his attacking instincts been tempered by the modern game? And what role will be played by consideration of the philosophies of the suspended James Hird? Has to be Joe Daniher, who has the opportunity to go from junior prodigy to AFL star. Daniher was carefully managed in his debut season, but the significant change in personnel in Essendon's forward line has paved the way for him to seize his chance. Stewart Crameri and Scott Gumbleton are gone and Thompson has said Michael Hurley is a "natural defender." Enter the much-hyped father-son recruit, who has recovered from a post-season knee operation and is working hard on his physique. Michael Hurley is a "natural defender." B Mark Baguley 26, 28 games Jake Carlisle 22, 49 games Dustin Fletcher 38, 378 games HB Michael Hibberd 23, 44 games Michael Hurley 23, 79 games Courtenay Dempsey 26, 88 games C Jake Melksham 22, 80 games Jobe Watson 28, 173 games Brent Stanton 27, 203 games HF Paul Chapman 32, 251 games Paddy Ryder 25, 149 games David Zaharakis 23, 87 games F Nick Kommer 23, 19 games Joe Daniher 19, 5 games Jason Winderlich 29, 112 games FOLL Tom Bellchambers 24, 61 games Brendon Goddard 28, 227 games Dyson Heppell 21, 62 games INT Cale Hooker 25, 88 games Ben Howlett 25, 76 games Tayte Pears 23, 68 games Heath Hocking 25, 97 games Jobe Watson clears ahead of Bryce Gibbs. Mark Thompson Neil Craig (head of coaching development and strategy) Simon Goodwin (senior assistant) Matthew Egan (assistant) Nathan Bassett (assistant) James Byrne (development) Hayden Skipworth (development) Will Essendon's top draft pick Zach Merrett, brother of current Don Jackson, get a taste of AFL in 2014? Watch exclusive highlights of him below.