Watson played his first competitive match in over eighteen months – and his first without being captain of the club since 2009 – when he and several of the other Essendon players who served bans in 2016 made their return to the field against in the 2017 pre-season. Watson then made a successful return to football with a dominant game against in a 25-point win. On 9 August 2017, with three rounds left in the home-and-away season, Watson announced that he would retire at the end of the season. Watson then played in three of Essendon's last four matches, with his final game coming in the 65-point elimination final loss to at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Watson played 20 games in his final season, which is the most he had played in a season since 2012, to finish on 220 games for Essendon.