Essendon's young stars Darcy Parish and Aaron Francis will sit out Sunday’s match against Gold Coast in the hope they’ll return stronger for the final two games of the season.

Parish has been rested after playing 18 games in his first AFL season, while Francis has a calf niggle.

“Both have had huge loads and we’re really pleased with what we’ve got into them throughout the season,” Essendon Coach John Worsfold said. 

“They’ll both have the weekend off and make sure their bodies are right to finish the season off strongly.”

Mathew Stokes, Jonathan Simpkin, Will Hams, Jake Long, Orazio Fantasia, Kyle Langford and Mason Redman have been included in the 25-man squad that will be reduced to 22 on Friday. 

Brendon Goddard and Courtenay Dempsey will miss through injury with Zach Merrett to Captain the side. 

“He’s got natural leadership traits that his teammates had already identified when they did their leadership voting at the start of the year,” Worsfold said of Merrett.

“He’ll be a leader at this football club for a long time, so to step up as acting Captain for this week is fairly natural.” 

With a number of young players named in this week’s team, Worsfold said the game against Gold Coast will be another opportunity to fast track their development at AFL level. 

“Seeing some of the younger players in new roles, seeing them continue their development – they’re the key things,” he said.

“We absolutely think if we do everything really well we can take it right up to the Gold Coast.

‘The big picture for us it to keep developing the group, learn about each other, learn some new things in terms of the way we want to play and make sure we’ve got that stored away for next year.”