Essendon has suffered a massive blow on the eve of tonight’s must-win clash with St Kilda with both James Hird and Dustin Fletcher late withdrawals from the game. It was decided to give Hird another week to recover from a cracked rib while Fletcher is still suffering from the effects of having two teeth knocked out against West Coast. Jason Winderlich and Mark Mercuri both come into the side.

The loss is a bitter blow to the Bombers who are already without a number of senior players including Sean Wellman, Dean Rioli and Scott Lucas. The Essendon coaching staff will now have to re-structure the back half to cope with the potent St Kilda forward line.

Fraser Gehrig and Nick Riewoldt will pose the biggest problems for the Bombers. Ted Richards might have to return to defence and might even cop the unenviable task of shutting down Riewoldt. Richards is in good form but there aren’t many tougher jobs in football right now.

Dean Solomon might be forced back to defence and get the job on Gehrig. Adam McPhee might be the other option but the Bombers may not want to rob themselves of McPhee’s run through the midfield. McPhee might play a sweeping role across half-back and help out Richards and Solomon where possible.