The Bendigo Bombers will feature four big-name inclusions this week as Essendon welcome back Mark McVeigh, Kyle Reimers, Jason Laycock and Hayden Skipworth from injury.
Football operations manager, Paul Hamilton, said the healthy state of Essendon's list is pleasing for the club and its medical and conditioning staff.
“We think our medical and conditioning staff are doing a good job and are on top of things,” he said.
“We are pleased that we are making good progress with our injury list and we are developing a good group coming through.
“McVeigh will play up in Bendigo this week because he has missed a fair bit of football. We need to build his fitness up to the level where he feels really comfortable.
“Reimers is also very excited to be playing football again. I know it has taken a while and he has missed a lot of football but he is in reasonable condition from a fitness point of view and now he just needs match conditioning.”
Jason Laycock will play his first game of the year after overcoming a foot injury which sidelined the ruckman for almost a full pre-season.
Hamilton said the club intends to place Laycock on a graduated program, building up his game time over a number of weeks.
“It has been a long road for Jason so for him to come back and get some game time will be an exciting time for him and the club.
“He needs to get his fitness up and we won’t be rushing him back to AFL.”
Defensive midfielder Andrew Welsh is expected to make his return to football next week after breaking his foot in an intraclub match during pre-season.
“Andrew is very close to playing but won’t play this week,” Hamilton said.
“We feel he needs one more week on the track before he is given the green light.”