John Worsfold will remain coach of Essendon beyond the 2018 season, with the Bombers signing off on a long-expected new AFL deal.

The 49-year-old will extend his senior coaching tenure to 17 years, having agreed to remain as coach until the end of 2020.

A premiership coach at West Coast, Worsfold joined the Bombers late in 2015 amid fallout from the club’s drugs saga and last season took them from bottom of the ladder to the finals.

“John has been a great addition to our club through what has been a unique and challenging period,” Bombers chief Xavier Campbell said on Wednesday.

“He has brought an enormous amount of stability, and has shown wonderful resilience and commitment to see Essendon emerge in a better place.”

Worsfold said he was excited to re-commit to the club.

“We have a playing group which has established a really clear vision, a strong culture and elite standards,” he said.

“We believe this group of players is going to play a lot of football together, and hopefully win a lot of finals moving forward.”