Most Essendon players are at home preparing for tonight’s blockbuster clash against Hawthorn, but injured duo James Hird and Joe Misiti were busy on the training track at Windy Hill this morning. Under the watchful eye of fitness coach John Quinn, the pair completed an early morning running session. Essendon skipper James Hird is expected to return shortly and Quinn said the fitness team are happy with his progress. ""Hird's fitness is very good. He has just been running 200m sprints on the oval and it is his facial injuries rather than his fitness that is holding him back at the moment,"" Quinn said.

Joe Misiti had his plaster removed from his wrist on Wednesday and started running this morning. Due to the nature of his injury, Misiti has been restricted to riding the exercise bike to maintain his fitness. ""We started Joe doing fartlex running this morning - high intensity sprints followed by low intensity running. It is good training to prepare him for a match because you are continually changing the pace. He has maintained his fitness level and the job at hand is to strengthen this wrist so he can start ball-handling work. At this stage he is still three to four weeks away from playing,"" Quinn said.