Reigning best and fairest winner Aaron Heppell will make his return for Essendon VFL when the side meets Richmond on Saturday.

Heppell missed the opening six games of the season after undergoing knee surgery in the pre-season.

“It’s a testament to his rehab and how diligent he’s been to come back at this time when we thought it might be a little bit longer,” Performance Coach Dan Jordan said.

“He probably won’t play the full amount of game time.

“It’s important to get him in and get a run, and get some game time into his legs so he can have a really strong back half of the year.”

Shaun McKernan also returns to the side after recovering from a hand injury.

He’s booted six goals and is averaging five marks a game in his four appearances at VFL level this season.

 “Given the fact that Bellchambers has gone up, I think he’s (McKernan) really important,” Jordan said.

“He gives us a big focal point down forward. Tommy (Bellchambers) obviously kicked six last week so we are hoping Shaun will be in similar form.”

With Bellchambers’ selection in the senior side, it will give 18 year old Sam Draper the opportunity to play the full game in the ruck.

Draper won 32 hit outs against Geelong and 24 against Coburg, while splitting his time in the middle of the ground with Bellchambers.

“It allows Draper to spend a little more time in the ruck and Richmond have some big rucks in so we will need his presence in the ruck for sure,” Jordan said.

“I think ‘Drapes’ will play the majority of his time in the ruck, he did so a couple of games ago and played really well against Werribee.

“It’s part of his development to spend more and more time in the ruck where the opportunity offers it. It will be a really good challenge for him this week.”

Essendon will be without key defender James Ferry, who will be lining up for Victoria in the annual state game.

The Dons will need to be wary of Richmond forward Ben Lennon who has kicked 14 goals this season for the Tigers.

“He’s (Lennon) in some really good form so he’s certainly a player that we are going to have to try and watch,” Jordan said.

“We have a number of options at the moment.

“Young Matt Darby is playing back there, Mason Redman has just moved into defence and we have Benny McNiece and some other guys with AFL experience - Gleeson and Merrett.

“We will have a look at it and see how they line up. They have a couple of really big talls in there so it probably depends a little bit on that.

“We don’t want to put too much focus on one player because sometimes other guys can get off the chain.

“As a defensive unit, they are going to have to be pretty good, stick together and see if we can nullify their scoring.”

The Bombers are coming off two strong wins and will hope to continue their form against the Tigers.

The Dons game plan will be “much the same as previous weeks” according to Jordan.

“We want to try and attack it and be a really good high scoring team, but also be strong defensively so we have a few focus areas with regards to putting some pressure on the ball,” he said.

“Richmond has moved the ball really well over the past couple of weeks so we want to try and stop their free running and their overlap but also be able to get some good entries for us.”

Richmond are coming off the back of four losses but Jordan said Essendon can expect a fast pace and tight contest from them.

“They’ve lost their last four but against top five sides. They’re playing pretty good football without getting the results,” Jordan said.

“We really want to concentrate and make sure that we bring our best game because if we don’t Richmond is a side that can easily get on top and run away with the game.

“We expect them to bring much the same, they are pretty competitive, they like to try and move the ball reasonably quickly.

“They are certainly quick out of the back half so our defenders and midfielders need to be defending well and be aware of their quick ball movement.”