{"id":367720,"date":"2025-12-24T00:12:28","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T00:12:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/367720\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T00:12:28","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T00:12:28","slug":"bombers-re-sign-delisted-midfielder-after-martin-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/367720\/","title":{"rendered":"Bombers re-sign delisted midfielder after Martin injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Setterfield rejoins the Bombers as an replacement for the injured Nic Martin\n <\/p>\n

Will Setterfield during the round 12 match between Brisbane and Essendon at The Gabba, May 29, 2025. Picture: Getty Images<\/p>\n

WILL Setterfield will continue his AFL career at Essendon after the Bombers offered him a lifeline following the knee injury that has wiped out winger Nic Martin’s season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Setterfield, 27, was delisted at the end of the season but was offered the opportunity to continue training over summer with the possibility of returning to the Bombers’ list as a supplemental selection period signing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

WHO’S CALLED IT QUITS 2025’s retirements and\u00a0delistings<\/a><\/p>\n

And that’s how it panned out for the tough onballer, who will effectively replace Martin on the Bombers’ list after the winger’s 2026 campaign was ended before it had begun<\/a> by an injury to his recently reconstructed knee in November.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Setterfield joined the Bombers from Carlton in 2023 but has played just 27 games over three seasons in red and black.<\/p>\n

The big-bodied mid has endured a series of injuries over his career but remains a handy contributor when fit, turning himself into a tagger late in the season where he shut down the likes of Patrick Cripps, Marcus Bontempelli and Isaac Heeney.<\/p>\n

Setterfield averaged nearly 22 disposals per game in 2025 before having his year cut short by a serious foot injury.<\/p>\n

Will Setterfield in action during the R4 match between Essendon and Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval on April 5, 2024. Picture: AFL Photos<\/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\u2019t wait to get back out there with the boys and in front of the Bomber faithful.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Setterfield rejoins the Bombers as an replacement for the injured Nic Martin Will Setterfield during the round 12…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367721,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-367720","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","14":"tag-text"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367720","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=367720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}