Essendon will be without Dean Rioli for its round one clash and Paul Salmon will also miss with a calf injury. ""We have given Dean a couple of weeks off and I think that is fair enough. He can sit back and reflect on how his life is going off-the-field with his family and get that sorted out,"" an understanding Sheedy said. The doctors have given the all clear for Scott Lucas to play in the round one match. Lucas strained his thigh muscle in the round three Wizard Cup match against Fremantle.
It is doubtful Essendon will play any of its young players this week, unlike opponent Geelong. ""We just have to make sure we watch out for the young players that Mark Thompson will be putting in the Geelong side. We have used young players before and it has worked for us so there is no reason that it won't work for Geelong. I doubt there will be any debuts for us - but there could be one maybe. We have selection tonight so we will have more of an idea. It could be Shane Harvey, it could be Joel Reynolds, it could be Simon O'Keefe or Ted Richards. I think we will have to blood a few young ones again this year - I am not just sure how we will go about it,"" Sheedy said at training this afternoon.
