Essendon has sprung a surprise naming Dean Solomon in its initial squad of 28 to take on Carlton in Round one of the Wizard Cup this weekend. Solomon - who has been recovering from hand surgery - was expected to miss the game but medical staff have today given him the all clear to line up.

As expected Matthew Lloyd (calf), Dean Rioli (knee), David Hille (ankle) and Jason Johnson (hip) are all missing from the squad. There are two new faces in the squad with Paul Thomas and Angus Monfries both named.

Wizard Cup – Round 1
Essendon Squad

17. Paul Thomas
31. Dustin Fletcher
12. Andrew Welsh
10. Mark McVeigh
33. Adam McPhee
16. Kepler Bradley
28. Justin Murphy
37. Marc Bullen
24. Brent Stanton
25. Scott Lucas
4. Jobe Watson
5. James Hird
13. Damien Cupido
26. Jason Laycock
42. Nathan Lovett-Murray
27. Matthew Allan
11. Damien Peverill
7. Dean Solomon
9. Adam Ramanauskas
2. Ricky Dyson
41. Andrew Lovett
8. Jason Winderlich
3. Aaron Henneman
23. Mark Bolton
29. Joel Reynolds
20. Ted Richards
30. Sam Hunt
6. Angus Monfries