Hille starred in his side's Round 1 thrashing of the Western Bulldogs, but has missed the last two games with a niggling hip strain.
Hird said it was unlikely the 29-year-old would come into the side as a late replacement.
""Probably not, unless something happens to one of our other players today at training or overnight,"" Hird said.
""David just needs a bit of time to get his body right. He's obviously a very important player for us, but he's had a very interrupted pre-season, played one game and then missed two.""
Hird said the form of Tom Bellchambers in Hille's absence - Bellchambers had 41 hit-outs against St Kilda last week - had also been a factor in the decision to leave Hille out.
""We want to be cautious with him and we've got another ruckman in really good form in Tom Bellchambers. You have to back your guys who are in form,"" Hird said.
The Bombers' only change will be Brent Prismall coming into the team at the expense of Alwyn Davey, with Hird saying the small forward had been a victim of a lack of game time.
As Hird aims to extend Essendon's recent dominance over Carlton - the Bombers have won six of their past seven matches against the Blues - the new coach also said it was Prismall's experience which gave him the edge over Kyle Reimers, who was best afield for the Bendigo Bombers last week.
""It wasn't really Alwyn's fault. Alwyn was subbed last week, and we felt with Nathan Lovett-Murray that after he was subbed two weeks in a row it probably didn't help him at the start when he played St Kilda in his first full game,"" Hird said.
