Essendon coach Brad Scott has praised Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti's honest self-reflection as the goalsneak attempts to win back his spot in the Bombers' senior side.
McDonald-Tipungwuti retired from the AFL midway through last year before making a welcome U-turn in November.
The 30-year-old is still behind the eight ball in terms of his fitness, and he was dropped following a goalless display against West Coast in round 11.
McDonald-Tipungwuti will continue to play in the VFL for the foreseeable future while completing a modified training program, with Scott hopeful the skilful forward will push for senior selection again soon.
"Walla, by his own admission, wants to get fitter, and he's really driving that," Scott told reporters on Thursday.
"He's really impressed me. It's an incredible effort to get to where he is right now after so long out of the game. He was coming from so far back.
"But he by his own admission has said, 'I need to get fitter'.
"He acknowledges there are other players who are in a better physical condition than he is, and he needs to get to that level to give himself the best opportunity.
"We're not going to take him out of games, he's still going to play in the VFL.
"But we'll use this period to put in extra work during the week, to get him to a stage where he can come back in and play really good AFL footy."
The sixth-placed Bombers (7-5) will be aiming to make it four wins on the trot when they take on struggling Carlton at the MCG on Sunday night.
With things running smoothly on the field, much attention has been placed on the futures of star Essendon duo Mason Redman and Darcy Parish, who both qualify as restricted free agents at the end of the season.
Scott hopes the duo will decide to stay.
"We love Mason, we love Darcy Parish," Scott said.
"But I'm really conscious they've got big decisions to make individually.
"That's the free agency landscape. I'm not going to put any pressure on them. I'm just going to try to sell the vision and show what we can build as a club.
"It's up to them ultimately to make the decision."
