ESSENDON may roll the dice in Saturday’s virtual elimination final against Hawthorn and play a couple of stars who are battling to overcome injury.

While the Bombers might lose forward Alwyn Davey to a shoulder injury, skipper Matthew Lloyd heads a trio of players who might return for the must-win clash against the Hawks.

Both teams need to win the round 22 clash to make the finals.

Essendon midfielder Mark McVeigh said Kyle Reimers was a chance to return, Paddy Ryder could make an earlier-than-expected comeback from a knee injury while Lloyd was also in line for a recall.

“I reckon you play those players at 85, 90 per cent,” McVeigh said at Windy Hill on Monday.

McVeigh said Lloyd, who hasn’t played since bruising a heel in round 17, might be “five to 10 per cent off,” but his importance meant the Bombers would want him on the field.

“Lloydy's been a week-to-week thing … but in speaking to him before, he's really confident that he'll play,” McVeigh said.

“He reckons he’ll train all week, so apart from pulling up really sore he’d probably be available.”

Ryder injured his knee in Essendon’s memorable round 20 win over St Kilda and had been expected to miss at least a fortnight.

But he appeared to be jogging freely at Monday’s recovery session and may return to boost his team’s ruck stocks.

“I was just talking to Paddy Ryder then and he’s going to have a really good crack at it, and he’s pretty confident,” McVeigh said.

In other injury news midfielder Jobe Watson – despite looking a little proppy when jogging on Monday – should be fine to tackle the Hawks after rolling an ankle in Sunday’s 54-point loss to Fremantle.

But the news might not be as good for Davey, with the speedster in doubt for this week after injuring himself in Sunday's final quarter.

“He hurt his shoulder and he’ll get scans today to assess the damage,” McVeigh said.

“He was quite sore after the game … at the moment he looks pretty sore and he’d be doubtful.”