Essendon assistant coach, Gary O’Donnell, says the coaching staff has put its faith in Cale Hooker and Tayte Pears to curb St Kilda's twin towers on Sunday at Etihad Stadium.
Speaking on Best 22, O’Donnell said injuries to other key backman gave selectors little choice, but added the young Bomber duo were up to the job.
“Hooker was very good last week, despite having five goals kicked on him by Franklin, and in contests he was able to bring the ball to the ground and do a good enough job get some rebound,"" he said.
""Roughhead was in sparkling form and for Pears to keep him quiet was great.
“We’ll give these guys the same task this week and see how they go against St Kilda while Fletcher is still out.
""Perhaps we’ll look at Hurley or Daniher joining them in the coming weeks.""
O'Donnell said it was the first time in a long time that the Bombers had named an unchanged line-up and also praised young forward Jay Neagle.
