Zach Reid and Nick Bryan are in the mix for their second AFL games, with the young talls named in an extended squad for Sunday's clash with the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium.

They join Tom Cutler as inclusions to an eight-man bench, with no outs confirmed at this stage.

Reid and Bryan made their AFL debuts in rounds five and seven respectively last season, and have produced consistent months in the VFL to put their names up for senior selection again.

05:39

Rd 5 | Reid's AFL journey begins

We spoke to debutant Zach Reid and his mum, Megan, after our round five match against the Lions.

The No.10 pick in the 2020 NAB AFL Draft, Reid has had an injury-interrupted start at Essendon, but returned from long-term injuries a month ago. 

He has steadily built his form across four VFL games, earning the praises of AFL development coach Cam Roberts for his performance against Collingwood on Anzac Day.

"'Reidy' was excellent. He's played two really solid games now amid a month of footy. Defensively he sets up really well for us. He played on Mason Cox and young (Ollie) Henry from Collingwood, and just influenced the aerial contests really well, either killing the footy with spoils or intercept marking," Roberts said.

"He's a really balanced player and when he gets the ball in hand, he makes good decisions. He was arguably our top two or three players on the ground."

Bryan has dominated the ruck contests to average 38 hitouts across his past three VFL games, but in remains to be seen whether senior coach Ben Rutten will opt for two rucks against a Bulldogs side missing first-choice ruckman Tim English.

01:45

VFL Rd 3 | Bryan gets busy

Young ruckman Nick Bryan battles hard against Frankston for 15 disposals, 40 hitouts, five clearances and four tackles.

The Bombers will name their 22 to face the Dogs at 5pm on Friday.

ESSENDON'S RD 7 SQUAD:

Backs: Dyson Heppell (C), Jayden Laverde, Jordan Ridley
Half-backs: Zach Merrett, Jake Kelly, Mason Redman
Centreline: Sam Durham, Andrew McGrath, Nik Cox
Half-forwards: Archie Perkins, Alec Waterman, Matt Guelfi
Forwards: Ben Hobbs, Peter Wright, Jake Stringer
Followers: Sam Draper, Darcy Parish, Nic Martin
Interchange (from): Dylan Shiel, Brandon Zerk-Thatcher, Jye Caldwell, Kaine Baldwin, Zach Reid, Nick Hind, Tom Cutler, Nick Bryan

In: Reid, Bryan, Cutler

Out: Nil

Last week's medical sub: Hind (replaced Laverde)

Milestone: McGrath - 100 AFL games