Essendon never seems to have a full squad available when they come up against Port Adelaide and this Sunday will be no exception. Sean Wellman (foot), Dustin Fletcher (suspension), Mark McVeigh (hamstring) and Damian Cupido (knee) are definite non-starters, but Bomber coach Kevin Sheedy said Mark Mercuri and Mark Johnson are a chance to come into the Round 1 side.

""I think both teams will go into this match underdone a little bit. We probably have four very good players out each. I think it is pretty even from that point of view. We are playing over there and we need to win over there.

""Port Adelaide have knocked us out of the finals for the past two years. From our point of view, we just need to get to Port Adelaide and start winning games in Adelaide. We did it against Fremantle last year, which was an excellent win for us and there is no reason why we can’t this year,"" Sheedy said.

With the number of short-term injuries in recent weeks, Sheedy said the match committee will have 27 fit players to pick from. ""The main thing is we have some good players in there. We will probably pick one young player to play, which is good,"" he said. As to who that young player is, Sheedy gave no indication. However, with the absence of Fletcher and Wellman, Kepler Bradley is the hot favourite to debut.

Despite the short-term injuries to key players, Sheedy has been pleased with the team’s preparation for Round 1. ""I think we played pretty well in the Wizard Cup. There was only one quarter where we played poorly and that was the first quarter against St.Kilda. We take that on board and then we move on,"" he said. ""I think everybody in every league club just wants to get the season underway.""

Despite playing half a game yesterday in the Bendigo Bomber's practice match, Sheedy ruled Damian Cupido out of selection this week.""He was always going to play half a game on the weekend. That is what we do to players coming back from that kind of injury.""

Mark Alvey was one of the key players’ in the Bendigo practice match and with that performance has put himself in contention for selection. Joel Reynolds’ is another player who Sheedy said will come under serious consideration this week. Essendon trained this morning at La Trobe University and Adam Ramanauskas was the only omission. He was having a routine doctor’s appointment.