Essendon will enter its must-win clash against Hawthorn with an unchanged line-up at the MCG on Saturday.

Minor doubts remained about the line-up after heavy head knocks to Matt Dea and Kyle Langford in the side’s strong victory over Sydney last week, but coach John Worsfold has confirmed the duo will take their place.

“We’ve had obviously some serious setbacks with injury over the last few weeks and even last week losing Matty Dea early in the game, we’ve had to cope with that,” Worsfold said.

“Hopefully (we will have) a really good run at it this Saturday, but (it is) nice to have the same line-up.

“They (Dea and Langford) both pulled up really well quickly after the game and trained really well today.”

Young defender Aaron Francis returned impressively against the Swans after spending more than a year out of the senior side, and Worsfold said he was hopeful he could give the 20-year-old a good run in the AFL team should team balance permit it. 

“He’s got to play his role for the team and there is always that risk of just looking at match ups and the line-up,” he said.

“We’ve got players like (Ben) McNiece that went out of the side because we felt Aaron was going to help the balance of our line-up this week – he (McNiece) is in very good form as well.

“But we were rapt with what Aaron brought to the team last week and I’ve got no doubt he’ll just continue upwards from here.”

Worsfold was full of praise for Zach Merrett, who is set to play his 100^th senior game on Saturday.

“(Zach is) an impressive young leader, obviously a talented footballer, but a really driven young man.

“(He is) starting to learn about how to drag his teammates along with him in that regard, without being too pushy.

“He’s learned a lot in the last couple of years and he’s learning to deal with being rated as one of our best players and the opposition putting a lot of work into him as well, and we’re seeing some great growth.”

The Bombers are one of the form teams of the competition having won eight of their last 10 matches, but they face another tough match against the Hawks who are coming off dominant victories over Carlton and Fremantle in the last fortnight.

Worsfold said the team’s focus will be on continuing to build on the exciting brand of football that has defined his side’s impressive purple patch of form, but highlighted Hawthorn’s experience as an important challenge in the upcoming contest.

“We’re aware that Hawthorn has got some really experienced players through all lines,” he said.

“(They have) an experienced forward line who have played a lot of footy together, they’ve got some real talent through their midfield and their backline with Frawley and Stratton and co. have been together for a long time as well.

“So they’re a still a very mature and strong team, but we’re really enjoying playing the brand of footy that we’ve been building week in, week out, and our focus is to bring that again this week.”

FINAL TEAM:
B – Dea, Hooker, Goddard
HB – Saad, Hurley, McKenna
C – McGrath, Z. Merrett, Zaharakis
HF – Smith, Baguley, Parish
F – McDonald-Tipungwuti, Brown, Fantasia
R – Bellchambers, Heppell, Myers
I/C – Stringer, Francis, Langford, Guelfi
Emergencies – Colyer, Leuenberger, Laverde, McNiece