A freezing wind whipped across Windy Hill at training tonight but it did little to deter the Essendon players as they were put through a solid 75-minute session. The players looked a picture of concentration as they prepared for this weekend's clash with West Coast - a win will see the Bombers win the minor premiership for the third consecutive year. Dean Solomon was given the night off training as was youngster Rob Forster-Knight. Gary Moorcroft (corked calf) did some lap running before joining in full training. Michael Long and Justin Blumfield both moved well and further enhanced their chances of senior selection this week.

And Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy said before training that every player really needed to push their case for selection at this time of the year. ""Our injury list is looking okay at the moment and the pressure is on for players to ensure they remain in the side,"" Sheedy said. ""If that isn't going to motivate them for the last two games then I don't know what is.""

In his pre-training press conference, Sheedy said West Coast coach Ken Judge was doing the right thing by playing youngsters, again endorsed Mark Harvey as a future senior coachand said he was not concerned about the hardness of the surface at Subiaco Oval.