The most impressive factor of Essendon’s recent victories has been the even spread of the workload. Eleven players contributed on the scoreboard against Adelaide and Kevin Sheedy said he found it difficult to award his best and fairest votes. ""There was about 12 players that you could consider. It is hard to get it down to four of your best 10. It is a lot more even this season and that is good,"" Sheedy said.

One player that would have been in the mix for votes before an eye injury ended his night was James Hird. After early assessments that he may miss up to eight weeks, the prognosis looks promising for the skipper. ""The doctors have given him (Hird) a pretty favourable report. He will maybe miss a week to two, which is handy news and pleasing for him. We won’t take any risks with him though.""

It is impossible to replace a player of Hird’s calibre, but at least Essendon’s current depth means the match committee will have close to a full compliment of players to choose from. Sheedy wouldn’t give any clues to who may come in for the injured skipper.

""I am open minded about who we bring in. We will look at how we see the balance of the side. It is hard to replace Hird from a talent point of view but not from an overall team balance point of view and we will look at that,"" he said.

Saturday night’s match against Geelong is already shaping up to be the match of the round. Sheedy expects a full house at The Dome and said the stadium has been hosting all the big games of late.

""It is going to be a great game and once again it will be The Dome that will win out. The teams that are playing at The Dome more often are the ones playing pretty exciting footy. We have some big games coming up there and it is sure to be a big crowd this Saturday night,"" Sheedy said.

Please note:
Ticketmaster7 has classified the Essendon v Geelong (Round 9) match as a fully ticketed match. All people attending the match must either have an annual EFC Away seat or purchase a reserve seat through Ticketmaster7. NO EFC 18 game member will be able to scan their ticket through the turnstiles and enter the arena. You can contact Ticketmaster7 on 136100.