Essendon coach John Worsfold says Bombers fans should expect a “very settled side” again after announcing the extended squad for his side’s huge clash with Collingwood.
Four Bombers have been added to the bench, but none have been omitted from the team yet, with the final team to be confirmed at 5pm on Friday evening.
“The team’s been tracking pretty well and we’ve talked a lot about building that chemistry with each other,” Worsfold said on Thursday.
“Not withstanding some of the injuries we’ve had in and out, it’s been reasonably stable.
“So we’re happy with the way the squad’s going and (have) a lot of good players pushing up, which we can see in the squad.”
Jake Long could be in line for his first AFL appearance since 2016 after being included in the squad following a string of impressive performances in the VFL, and Worsfold said he had been encouraged by the midfielder’s consistency.
“One of the things we’ve been looking for from Longy is really consistency of performance,” he said.
“He’s had some good games in the past and then been a bit quiet for a week. His last five weeks have been really consistent, (he is) playing his role (and) he’s training well.
“Overall, he’s got himself now where we think he’s ready to step into the side if the opportunity arises.”
In-form trio Aaron Francis, Ben McNiece and Jackson Merrett complete the inclusions on the extended bench and Worsfold said he was thrilled to have a deep squad to choose from.
“That’s not the only thing to keep the senior players on their toes, but just overall for the health of our squad we need form players ready to come in and we’ve been really blessed with that this year.
“The guys who have come in out of the VFL have generally performed really well and they’ve come in in good form, which is the way we want to select them.”
He praised Collingwood’s strong form ahead of Sunday’s important match and said he is confident the Bombers can continue to improve together.
“The Pies have just been playing really good footy. They defend really well and they attack hard, they go fast, they try and keep the ball in space and use their leg speed to go forward – so (there are) some really good challenges there for us,” Worsfold said.
“As we’ve had that strong focus this year, it’s about us learning what our best footy looks like and continuing to build on that and to shape that into the best possible footy we can play, so that’s certainly our key focus.”
EXTENDED SQUAD:
B – Hooker, Ambrose, McGrath
HB – Saad, Hurley, McKenna
C – Heppell, Z. Merrett, Colyer
HF – Smith, McKernan, McDonald-Tipungwuti
F – Fantasia, Brown, Baguley
R – Bellchambers, Goddard, Stringer
I/C – Myers, Langford, Guelfi, Dea, Long, J. Merrett, McNiece, Francis
