ESSENDON fans have a lot to be excited about as Isaac Kako could be the club's best small forward in 25 years, predicts Bombers great Matthew Lloyd.
Kako made a quick impression with four goals in Essendon's AAMI Community Series win over Geelong on Tuesday.
PLAY AFL FANTASY Pick your team NOW
Access, with Damian Barrett and Matthew Lloyd, returned to AFL.com.au on Monday, with Lloyd's call his Crypto.com Bold Play of the Week.
"You've got to give some time to these kids, so I'm just saying over the journey of his career … could Isaac Kako be the best small forward at Essendon since Darren Bewick?" Lloyd said.
Lloyd's former teammate, Bewick played 238 games for the Dons with the premiership player kicking 332 goals across his 13 years at the club.
"[Bewick] was a wonderful player. He stood up through [the 1993] premiership, 2000 premiership. I'll never forget the centenary game, he kicked nine goals, coming back from an ACL injury. He was amazing," Lloyd said.
At just 18 years of age, lifelong Bombers fan Kako wasn't yet born to witness Essendon's most recent premierships or see Bewick in action, with the small forward retiring after the Bombers won the flag in 2000.
Having been taken at pick 13 in the 2024 Telstra AFL Draft, Kako is expected to make his debut in Essendon's Opening Round clash with Gold Coast on Saturday.
The Next Generation Academy product's performance against the Cats left Lloyd believing Kako "just knew where to be".
Essendon has been looking for a small forward since the retirement of Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti, who hung up the boots at the end of 2021 before returning in 2023.
"Tipungwuti's been good, but I don't think he stood the test of time," said Lloyd. "But this man, Isaac Kako, he's a player that the club hasn't had for a long, long period of time.
"I just feel like it's been that thin over the years, that I think the call is there. He's a pure footballer and he's going to be a 200-game player.
"And small forwards, you have to go early on them. You see Kysaiah Pickett, you saw Cody Weightman, the Bombers have to go early on Kako."
