James Hird will make his first appearance of the pre-season this Friday night after being named in the Bombers’ squad of 28 to take on Hawthorn at Queen Elizabeth Oval in Bendigo. Adam McPhee will also make his first appearance having recovered from a bruised knee while Courtney Johns will line up at full forward in place of Matthew Lloyd who is being rested.

Dustin Fletcher has also been rested, with tall defender Kepler Bradley likely to be given the key role deep in defence. Father-son draftee Jay Neagle has also been named in the Essendon squad.

""It is the perfect time to give Matthew (Lloyd) and Dustin (Fletcher) a week off. They have played all of our pre-season matches thus far and this just gives us a chance to freshen them up. They will play in Mildura next weekend but it depends how things unfold on Friday night,"" Essendon assistant Dean Wallis said.

""Hirdy falls into the opposite category really. We just decided that at least one and possibly two games under his belt was the right way to go. It is an extended squad that plays so it doesn’t mean he will play four quarters.""

ESSENDON FC SQUAD v Hawthorn, Friday 10 March

20. Henry Slattery

12. Andrew Welsh

17. Scott Camporeale

1. Mark Johnson

19. David Hille

30. Patrick Ryder

28. Richard Cole

22. Tristan Cartledge

11. Damien Peverill

35. Ben Jolley

32. Andrew Lee

16. Kepler Bradley

4. Jobe Watson

25. Scott Lucas

21. Courtney Johns

6. Angus Monfries

2. Ricky Dyson

26. Chris Heffernan

38. Jay Nash

8. Jason Winderlich

33. Adam McPhee

42. Nathan Lovett-Murray

23. Mark Bolton