The selection committee could be faced with a few headaches this week, with David Hille, Sam Lonergan, Ricky Dyson and Henry Slattery poised to return from injury to take on St Kilda in Friday night’s blockbuster.

Essendon’s Manager of Football Operations, Paul Hamilton, said he was excited by the return of so many key Bombers and is looking forward to watching the dynamic duo that is David Hille and Patrick Ryder.

“We are pretty excited with David and we know that when David and Patty are up and firing it really helps the side. It’s an advantage that we have and is one we identified at the beginning of the season,” Hamilton told Bomber.TV.

“First of all David has to get through training this week and if he does we’d expect that he’d be available. Of course he’s missed a lot of weeks so the decision has to be made whether he’s ready to go straight into the AFL side.”

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Sam Lonergan, Ricky Dyson and Henry Slattery are likely inclusions after all suffering from minor injuries.

“Sam pulled up sore after our last training session and had to be withdrawn and so consequently we rested him,” Hamilton said.

“We are hoping he’ll be right for this week. It is not a serious injury but hopefully he’ll be ready to go.

“Ricky Dyson has had a minor knee problem and has steadily been building up his training so we think he’ll play.

“Henry Slattery should be available as well. He’s had a rib problem which is going well so he should be okay to play.

Small forward Angus Monfries will not miss Friday’s match, despite receiving stiches after last week’s game.
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“Gussy actually cut his leg the week before near his knee and had been trying to keep it together but it opened up again on the weekend so the doctor put some stiches in it,” Hamilton said.

“That was done straight after the game and he’s fine.”

Hamilton said that it was not known whether Andrew Welsh would be right for Friday night’s clash and that a decision would be made later in the week.

“We’re not quite sure yet, we’ll just have to wait and see with him. He’s had groin problems so we’ll let him train, see how he pulls up and make a final call later in the week,” Hamilton said.
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