Essendon has locked in its 26-man team for Saturday night's AAMI Community Series match against St Kilda at Marvel Stadium.

Prized draftee Ben Hobbs, promising forward Kaine Baldwin and new rookie signing Nic Martin will aim to stake their claims for AFL debuts in round one, having been named for the Bombers' final dress rehearsal.

Baldwin and Martin will feature in a forward line without Jake Stringer and Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti, while Aaron Francis, who has played as a forward this pre-season, will also miss.

The Bombers have a full complement of midfielders to choose from, with Dylan Shiel sitting out as an emergency.

They'll look to build on last week's hard-fought practice match win over the Bulldogs, with all the action set to begin from 7:10pm.

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ESSENDON'S AAMI COMMUNITY SERIES TEAM:

Backs: Jayden Laverde, James Stewart, Tom Cutler
Half-backs: Nick Hind, Jordan Ridley, Zach Merrett
Centreline: Nik Cox, Andrew McGrath, Dyson Heppell (C)
Half-forwards: Will Snelling, Harrison Jones, Kaine Baldwin
Forwards: Matt Guelfi, Peter Wright, Devon Smith
Followers: Sam Draper, Darcy Parish, Jye Caldwell
Interchange: Archie Perkins, Mason Redman, Kyle Langford, Brayden Ham, Nic Martin, Brandon Zerk-Thatcher, Nick Bryan, Ben Hobbs

Emergencies: Alec Waterman, Sam Durham, Dylan Shiel, Tex Wanganeen