John Worsfold has no concerns about the state of the Gabba ground and the conditions the Bombers could face this Saturday night.

Schools and businesses were closed in Brisbane as heavy storms hit south-east Queensland in the wake of Cyclone Debbie.

But conditions in the city are expected to clear in the 36 hours leading up to the start of the game, with a sunny top of 29 degrees expected on match day.

“I’m expecting pretty good conditions and probably normal for this time of year in terms of humidity at night but otherwise I’m expecting it to be really good,” Worsfold said.

“I’m really confident, it’s going to drain today and it’ll be in great nick.”

Essendon has made one change for the match with Ben Howlett recalled to the side in place of the injured Josh Green.

“Ben’s been slowly feeling like he’s been getting back to playing his best footy, I thought he was really good against Box Hill on the weekend and he fits into the spot left by [Josh] Green,” Worsfold said.

The match will be Howlett’s first at AFL level in 18 months, while six others will be backing up from their comeback match.

Worsfold said he’s not worried about a let down after the euphoria of last week.

“Our focus is playing the type of footy we’ve developed together and building on that,” he said.

“We know we’ve got a long way to go so I think the players are pretty clear that game was a start, but we have to work hard to get better because we're not good enough yet and we want to work hard to achieve that.

“Even after some of our JLT games where we had a fair break in between – but we made sure the players backed up six days later with a pretty big hit out so it’s not like they haven’t been through it.”

Worsfold said Matthew Leuenberger is on track to be available for next week’s match against Carlton, while Tom Bellchambers is also nearing a return.

The Coach also had this to say following the AFL’s decision to schedule this year’s Grand Final as a day match. 

“That’ll suit me, I’ll be free on that day … I’m not booking anything in, I’m going to be ready to work that day,” Worsfold said.