Essendon coach John Worsfold says the club is relieved to have a genuine ruckman back at its disposal with important Bomber Zac Clarke available for selection to take on Gold Coast.

Clarke was an unexpected loss for the side last week due to an untimely illness, but he is a chance to return at Metricon Stadium on Sunday after being included in the Bombers’ extended squad.

It was a frustrating setback for the former Docker following a breakthrough performance against North Melbourne in round 17, but the 29-year-old has proven his fitness on the track at The Hangar this week.

“It was a bit of a shock to not have him available last week, but he got through that (illness) no worries and he’s feeling really good again,” Worsfold said on Thursday.

“It’s great to have him available, because his form against (Kangaroo Todd) Goldstein was really good a couple of weeks ago.”

Zac Clarke has put his hand up for selection after missing due to illness last week. (Image: AFL Photos)

Another Don cleared for a possible return this week is young forward Jayden Laverde, who had also struck form before missing Essendon’s defeat of Adelaide last week due to a minor back niggle.

The club was cautious despite Laverde’s speedy recovery from the injury, but Worsfold said the versatile goalkicker is ready to fire again.

“That (soreness) settled pretty quickly and he felt as though he could have played last week, but the chances were that he would have gotten sore during the game, so we felt it was the smart option to let him get over that.

“He trained really well this week and he’s looking sharp.”

Essendon will be forced to make at least two changes following the withdrawal of captain Dyson Heppell (sore foot) and defender Conor McKenna (unavailable due to his brother’s wedding).

McKenna is expected to return against Port Adelaide next week, while Worsfold is also hopeful Heppell will be able to take his place against the Power.

Club veterans David Myers and Mark Baguley are in the mix to replace the pair this week and Worsfold was full of praise for the experienced duo.

“Both are in great form, (they are) really senior players at the footy club, great leaders and both playing really well.

“We need that; we need to have players that are ready to come in and perform at a good level, because they’re in good form.

“Those two are ready to go for us and they have been for a number of weeks.”

Mark Baguley booted three goals against the Suns last year. (Image: AFL Photos)

Versatile defender Ben McNiece and tough forward Josh Begley round out the possible inclusions and Worsfold admitted the impressive form of the club’s VFL provides him with extra confidence in the ability of incomers to play their role well when required in the AFL.

“They’re playing the same style that we’re trying to play in the seniors and all of those guys would be playing roles that they’re likely to come into the senior team and play,” he said.

“That’s working really well for us this year. Pretty much throughout the course of the year when players have been promoted through the VFL, they’ve come in and performed their role well.” 

Worsfold described Gold Coast’s young squad as “very talented” and said the main focus this week will be to continue to build on the Bombers’ purple patch of form by limiting the opportunities the team has been offering its opponents.

“We need to keep improving our footy. We’re having some really good patches where we look really exciting, but we’re still giving the opposition some good looks at the game and some good periods of momentum.

“We’ve got to keep working hard to build our actual form more consistently over four quarters and building on our understanding of each other.

“We talked a lot at the start of the year about the chemistry we’re trying to build. This group’s been a little bit more settled of recent times and we’re starting to see some results from that.”

The first bounce is set for 4:40pm on Sunday.