The good news is Paul Barnard (hamstring strain) and Mark Mercuri (knee) will also be available for selection. However, Dean Rioli didn't train this afternoon and has been ruled out of the Round 7 clash with a hamstring injury. Essendon currently has a win loss ratio of three and three and must win on the weekend to stay in the top eight. ""It is a big game for both clubs. If we get somewhere near our best side out there we will play well. Our form has been pretty solid. The good thing about the players is that they never gave up in the last quarter when we were faced with a fairly large margin. They never gave up which was a terrific part of last week's game even though our form was poor in the middle part of the game,"" Sheedy said.
""Brisbane is up there, Port is climbing the ladder and everyone else is in the middle order. At this point you would have to think that Port and Brisbane will be one and two and everyone else is trying to develop their team to get in the ball park. As soon as this week is over we all play each other once and you get a better indication. You don't know what is going to happen. It is a very, very tough game at the present time,"" said the four-time premiership coach.
Matthew Lloyd will play his 150th game for the team on Saturday and Sheedy said he has been a fantastic player to coach over the past nine years. ""He has been sensational and the fans love him. He is an excellent person on and off the field so we were lucky to get him when we did. He could have gone to Fremantle and that would have made things worse last weekend!” Although Sheedy has moved Lloyd out of the goal square to centre half forward in recent weeks he said that this is not necessarily a trend for the future. ""The situation has evolved in every game where we play him where it best suits the team at the time. If we ever get our best team out there it will be interesting to see where he does play. You have to move your forward structure around a bit,"" Sheedy said.
