Boom recruit Dylan Shiel isn't expecting any banter with his former teammates ahead of Essendon’s important season opener against Greater Western Sydney on Sunday.

While Shiel remains close with a number of Giants, the new Bomber said each squad would be focused solely on the highly-anticipated clash at Sydney Showground Stadium.  

“I think this week’s going to be pretty serious and both teams are obviously going to be going out to win,” Shiel said on Monday.

“(There will) probably be a bit of banter after the game, I’d assume, but not too much this week.”

The athletic midfielder admitted to taking an ongoing interest into his former side having spent his first seven years in the AFL as a Giant.

“A new experience for me is to be at a new footy club and certainly I felt like I was keen to keep an eye on what the guys were doing.

“(It is) my old team and some close mates are playing for that club, so I always want to be keeping an eye on what they’re doing and I’m always going to be interested in their progress.”

The 26-year-old is likely to receive a fair bit of attention on the ball as one of the league’s best on-ballers and he said there are several potential opponents lining up to take him on including Giants stars Stephen Coniglio and Tim Taranto.

But while Shiel is looking forward to the mouth-watering battle through the centre on Sunday, he is also keen to display his versatility pushing forward when required.

“I’m predominantly a midfielder and that’s where I’d like to think I do my best work, but in today’s game players need to be flexible and play in multiple positions.

“If ‘Woosh’ (Worsfold) thinks I need to spend a bit more time forward to support up there then that’s what I’ll do.”

Dylan Shiel is expecting to be utilised in the forward line at times during his first season in the red and black.

One Bomber who won’t line up to take on GWS is gun forward Joe Daniher, who had shown promising signs in the club’s two JLT Community Series hitouts before suffering a frustrating calf strain at training last week after.

Shiel conceded Daniher and his teammates are disappointed by the untimely setback, but he said the powerful goalkicker has the right attitude to be back firing soon.

“He’s really positive and he’s an ultra-professional in how he attacks his training and his rehab, and I expect no different for this one.

“He’d had a really good preparation – going through JLT he was in really good nick and looking to play (in round one) and then this has come up.

“No doubt he’s disappointed, we’re all disappointed for him, but that’s happened now and we’ve got to look to getting him back and getting him healthy whenever that is.”

Shiel is confident the side can cover the loss of Daniher through one or a combination of key forwards James Stewart, Mitch Brown and Shaun McKernan, but he admitted he couldn’t predict how the final line-up will look on Sunday.

“Joe’s a special player and he’s very important to the team, but it’s a great opportunity for Stewart, Brown or McKernan to step in and fill that role.

“Fortunately, as a player I’m not part of the team selection, I wouldn’t want to go through that headache.

“I’ll leave it to (John Worsfold) and the coaches to make the right call, which I’m sure they will.”

The first bounce for Sunday’s exciting clash is set for 3:20pm, with Essendon’s final team to be revealed at 5pm on Friday.

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