Key defender James Stewart is on track to play his first game of the season after a long rehabilitation back from a foot injury.

The 29-year-old looks set to take his place in Essendon VFL's side after successfully reintegrating back into main training.

GM of Performance Daniel McPherson said Stewart will look to compete Wednesday's main training session to put his hand up to play.

"James is now at the stage where he's able to take part in main training after rehabbing his foot injury and taking time away for personal reasons," McPherson said.

"Provided he gets through this week's main session without incident, 'Stuz' will take his place in our VFL side this weekend, which we're absolutely wrapped about."

Midfielder Will Setterfield has been listed as only a week away from a potential return as he completes the final stages of his foot rehabilitation. 

Setters will integrate back into main training this week, and then have another full week of training next week before returning to play," McPherson said.

Sam Draper is continuing to work hard in his quest to overcome the hip injury that has kept him out since the mid-season bye.

“Drapes has done a heap of off-legs conditioning work over the past few weeks to keep himself in good shape despite being in a deload phase. We are now in the early stages of reloading him again, meaning he has begun some very low-level on-field running. His progression from here will largely be guided by his symptoms, as he gradually builds back up to point where he is robust enough to return to play and perform strongly towards the back end of the season,” McPherson said.

Dylan Shiel continues to battle a lingering foot injury. It is proving difficult to put an exact timeline this complaint, however he won’t play this week, and at this stage is unlikely to play next week either.

Essendon round 20 injury list