Michael Long looks set to finally return to football this weekend after training strongly at Windy Hill this morning. Long completed the 90-minute session and then finished off with some extra running in a bid to prove his fitness this weekend. ""It was a big test for him this morning and the way he moved was very encouraging. We are now hoping that he pulls up well. If he does get through today well then there is every possibility he will play a half in the VFL side this weekend,"" Essendon football manager Matthew Drain said.

Long played the first four games of this season - the last being against Collingwood at the MCG in round five - before succumbing to a knee injury. He had arthroscopic surgery on the knee but his rehabilitation was stalled by a bout of tonsilitis and infection in the knee joint. Long has now missed 10 home and away matches. Long's injured knee is the same one that has already undergone two reconstructions. He also snapped his patella tendon in that knee in 1996.

""We aren't concerned that he has missed so much football. He has shown in the past that he only needs a couple of games to get his touch back. In 1998 he had missed a lot of football and only required two reserves games before breaking back into the seniors,"" Drain said.

Dean Wallis did not train this morning and will miss at least one more week. Justin Blumfield, who missed last weekend's epic clash with the Kangaroos because of a knee injury, will face a fitness test this week. Mark McVeigh will return after a calf injury this weekend while Sean Wellman will return to the side having completed his two-match suspension.