{"id":350572,"date":"2025-12-16T00:00:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T00:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/350572\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T00:00:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T00:00:11","slug":"privilege-essendon-confirm-nic-martin-ssp-replacement-afl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/350572\/","title":{"rendered":"“Privilege”: Essendon confirm Nic Martin SSP replacement – AFL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

Former Bomber Will Setterfield<\/a> has been given an AFL<\/a> reprieve after Essendon confirmed his relisting via the SSP on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Setterfield was initially delisted by the Bombers at the end of 2025 due to a squeeze on list spots, but regained his position at Tullamarine as Nic Martin<\/a> was placed on the inactive list.<\/p>\n

Martin was already ruled out for the majority of 2026 after tearing his ACL in Round 18<\/a>, but a fresh setback caused further scans and ultimately led to follow-up surgery.<\/p>\n

Setterfield impressed throughout his time in the red and black, which followed stints at GWS (2017-2018) and Carlton (2019-2022).<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old played 27 games for Essendon in three seasons, including 13 in 2025, where he was tasked with curbing the influences of the game’s best midfielders, such as Patrick Cripps<\/a> and Isaac Heeney<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, Setterfield’s season was cut short due to a foot injury.<\/p>\n

“Every year you get to wear the Club colours is a privilege, so I’m really grateful for another season in the sash,” Setterfield said.<\/p>\n

“I look forward to working closely with our High-Performance team on getting my body right. The club’s support has been amazing, and we are in a really good spot.<\/p>\n

“I want to be ready to give everything for the team in 2026. I can’t wait to get back out there with the boys and in front of the Bomber faithful.”<\/p>\n

List manager Matt Rosa<\/a> acknowledged the “tough waiting game” for Setterfield since the end of the season.<\/p>\n

“We’re thrilled for Will. He’s had a tough waiting game over the last few months, so it’s great to see a well-deserved opportunity open up for him,” Rosa said.<\/p>\n

“He’s been terrific for us in a bunch of different midfield roles over the past few seasons and you just know the level of commitment and effort you’re going to get when he’s out there.<\/p>\n

“Will’s a popular member of our squad and the boys are rapt he’s got another crack at it this season.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Bomber Will Setterfield has been given an AFL reprieve after Essendon confirmed his relisting via the SSP…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325842,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-350572","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}