At the beckoning of Launceston coach Sam Lonergan, former Blues trio Jesse Lonergan, Jackson Thurlow and Tom Bellchambers were joined by All-Australian defender Michael Hurley at the club’s Grand Final breakfast to dissect the AFL’s biggest day and their careers to date. 

Whether it be for breakfasts or playing purposes, Lonergan has shown a knack for bringing big-name players to the club - a trait which will hold his coaching career in good stead according to former teammate Hurley.

“We’ve built a good relationship with Sammy over our time together at Essendon … it’s good to catch up with him and the family,” Hurley said. 

“As a younger player coming into the footy club he was one of the guys who took me under his wing and showed me the ropes.

“You could definitely see his coaching capabilities from a young age and to see him develop now as a coach here is great and hopefully one day he can work his way up to the AFL system.”

Like Hurley, Bellchambers played with Lonergan at Essendon for four years between 2009 and 2012 and has gone on to become one of the longest-serving players on the club’s list. 

The 29-year-old ruckman enjoyed his most consistent season in 2018, playing a career-high 20 games including his 100^th against Carlton in round eight.

Bellchambers missed the final match of the season due to injury but said his shoulder had healed well from minor surgery four weeks ago.

“I’m back doing most things so I’ll be right to go for the start of the pre-season,” he said.

“As a team I think we probably showed what we can do in the second half of the year by playing some really exciting football.

“For us it’s probably bridging the gap between our worst and our best going forward, so if we can start the season well next year like we finished this year, who knows what can happen?”

The Bombers slumped to 4-7 at the midway point of the year but won eight of their next 11 to finish with a respectable 12-10 record. 

Their late-season flurry, which included away wins over West Coast and Port Adelaide and a home win against Sydney, spurred ex-coach James Hird to tip the Bombers for the premiership if they made the eight.

John Worsfold’s men fell a game and percentage short of that marker, but Bellchambers said his side’s performances in the second half of the year proved the sky was the limit in 2019. 

“Finals is about getting there - we didn’t do that this year so it’s back to the drawing board and we need to improve on this year to play finals next year and we’ll worry about that from there.

“We showed this year playing the top teams that we can match it and finals is a different game again, but we’re fully aware if we play our best football we can match it with any team.

“It’s exciting times ahead.”