Essendon will give its players until the last minute to prove their fitness as the Bombers face a race against time to recover for Wednesday's Anzac Day clash with Collingwood.

 

After beating Carlton on Saturday, Essendon's preparations for the Magpies have been unusual. The Bombers won't hold a main training session, and some players will have their first light run on Tuesday.

Essendon coach James Hird said the club would select its team tonight and submit to the AFL, but that a final decision on the 22 who run out against the Magpies would be left until hours before the bounce.

""We haven't confirmed our team. We've got to put a team into the AFL tonight by five o'clock and we'll put as good a team as we can in at five o'clock,"" Hird said.

""But there will probably be some guys who we will wait and see tomorrow morning with how their soreness pulls up, just to give them that extra time.

""I'd say that 95 per cent of players picked will play and then there might be one or two emergencies who come in.""

Hird nominated a number of players who could replace those with sore bodies, including key position player Jake Carlisle, and speedy pair Courtenay Dempsey and Travis Colyer. But he noted those with good form would get as much time as possible to prove they were able to play Collingwood.

""It's a balance between bringing in fresh legs or going with guys who really performed well for us on the weekend,"" Hird said.

""I don’t think that you should throw good form out, and guys who really committed themselves against Carlton deserve their right to play in this game. We've just got to make sure they're fit and ready to go.""

Bombers skipper Jobe Watson suggested on Monday that he expected the game to be a battle of attrition in the second half.

Hird said he wasn't sure if the game would reflect the four-day turnaround, and how the likelihood of wet weather might change how the game is played, but that his team would be ready.

""There's no doubt it's not going to be a normal game in terms of a seven-day break, but you listen to both sets of players talk in the media over the last couple of days and they would have played Sunday if they had to,"" Hird said.

""It's such an important game for both clubs and it's a privilege to play in it.""