Essendon stars Orazio Fantasia and Devon Smith are on track to take their place in the Bombers’ clash with ladder leader Geelong on Sunday.

Question marks remained over the important pair before the club’s main training session on Thursday, but coach John Worsfold says he expects the two Dons to line up at the MCG.

“They were both good today, so we’re really pleased with that,” Worsfold said after training on Thursday afternoon.

“There’s still a bit to do and a bit of time to go, but we can’t see them getting any worse.

“We fully expect both of them are going to keep getting better and better day by day, so right now I fully expect that they’ll be okay.”

SEE THE EXTENDED SQUAD

Essendon will make at least two changes to its side with David Myers managed due to the club’s busy schedule, joining Mitch Brown (fractured wrist) on the sidelines.

“The main reason (Myers is out) is obviously around how his body’s feeling and the schedule that we have and making sure that we have all of our players at their best for as many games as possible throughout the year.

“We’ve had good discussions with David around what the schedule looks like and we feel this is definitely the best option.”

There are six potential inclusions in the extended squad (including Fantasia) with the final team set to be announced at 5pm on Friday.

Key-position Bomber Aaron Francis is among them and remains a possibility to replace Brown in the forward line, but Worsfold said he is just one of many flexible Dons who can fill the void.

“(Playing him forward) is certainly something that we can consider. Aaron has been playing back for us and we’ve got other guys in our backline that can go forward.

“We’ve got Patty Ambrose, Cale Hooker and even Michael Hurley that we can explore with Aaron in the squad, we can weigh up what it looks like.”

Young ruck Sam Draper has also been included in the squad after raking in 20 disposals and 47 hitouts last week in the VFL, adding to his impressive run of form this year.

Worsfold was full of praise for Draper and said there is a chance he could make his debut to provide further support for experienced ruckman Tom Bellchambers against the Cats.

“He’s growing so much, so quickly,” Worsfold said.

“Even the way he trained this week was outstanding, so he’s really doing everything right to push for senior selection.

“He’s certainly been knocking on the door for a number of weeks and getting closer.

“He is another player that we seriously consider coming in and helping ‘T-Bell’ out this week sitting in the forward line and potentially going in the ruck a little bit more than other guys, which would give ‘T-Bell’ the opportunity to take some grabs up forward.”

Another young Bomber coming off a number of strong performances in the VFL is midfielder Kyle Langford and Worsfold has been pleased with his response since being omitted from the senior side.

“He could easily be in the line-up this week with his form. He hasn’t been in bad form, it’s just we’ve been lucky with Dylan Shiel coming into our line-up and it has put some squeeze on some of the mids that were hanging in there last year.

“Kyle’s going really well and if he gets his opportunity this week we know he’ll perform well.”

Worsfold said versatile defender Ben McNiece is also a chance to take the field in a ploy to quash the influence of Geelong’s dynamic forward line.

“He’s available for us because of Kobe Mutch going onto the long-term injury list, which is great because his form is really solid.

“Geelong has four pretty quick small forwards that are all in good form, so Ben gives us the option to have a look at match-ups in that regard.”

Young forward Josh Begley is the final Bomber on the extended bench after showing great signs since returning successfully in the VFL following a near-year-long absence with an ACL injury.

“He’s been building over the last month,” Worsfold said.

“He had a really good pre-season, so it was all a matter of just ticking all of the boxes in terms of returning to play after his knee reconstruction.

“Since he’s done that, he’s picked up where he left off last year really quickly, so we’re rapt with that.”

Worsfold said the club is embracing the challenge of taking on the high-flying Cats, who sit a game clear on top of the ladder and have proven to be the benchmark team so far this year.

“Geelong has been scoring really efficiently. When they get it inside their forward half, they’ve been able to score.

“Overall, they’re a very good contested ball side so we’re looking forward to that challenge, it’s an area that we’ve been pretty good at except for round one.

“(It is) another big challenge. We’re excited about stepping up against a team that’s in red-hot form and seeing how we match up again.”

The game will begin at 3:20pm at the MCG on Sunday.