Matthew Lloyd and Jason Johnson - two of the stars of Essendon's win over Geelong - didn't join in full scale training at Windy Hill this afternoon. Johnson spent the night indoors on a bike while Lloyd spent half an hour in the pool. ""They have both worked pretty hard in the past few weeks and we just thought we would give them a light night and freshen them up a bit for the weekend,"" Essendon football manager Matthew Drain said. The remainder of the Essendon squad was put through a 90-minute session in cold, wet conditions.

Dean Solomon left the track after completing the 15-minute warm-up. Dean Rioli (torn calf) spent time in the pool working his way through his rehabilitation program. James Hird (groin) completed a full session and is a certain starter this weekend.