After a spirited performance in the opening round of the season, the Bombers have added several players to the squad to take on the Hawks on Sunday.
The team fell victim to a last quarter fade-out after leading the Swans by 41-points late, conceding seven goals to none in the last quarter to lose by 12 points.
"Sydney got hold of us at the back end of that last quarter but with the amount of inside 50's they had not many defences would have held them," Essendon Coach James Hird said.
"We're happy with the way the majority of the game went last weekend, it just didn't quite end the way we would have liked."
Dempsey, Gwilt, Ashby, Dagleish and the recently upgraded McKernan have all been named in the squad for Sunday’s game.
Veteran defender Dustin Fletcher will join injured midfielder David Myers on the sideline after pulling up sore from last week’s game.
“Dustin just got a little bit sore in the groin after the game and we just want to be very conservative with him,” Hird said.
Here is the team that is set to take on the Hawks.
Position | Player | Player | Player |
Backs | M.Hibberd | C.Hooker | M.Gleeson |
Half-Backs | B.Stanton | J.Carlisle | J.Gwilt |
Centreline | J.Melksham | J.Watson | M.Baguley |
Half-Forwards | T.Colyer | M.Hurley | D.Heppell |
Forwards | P.Chapman | P.Ambrose | A.Cooney |
Followers | T.Bellchambers | B.Goddard | D.Zaharakis |
Interchange From | L.Dalgleish | B.Howlett | C.Dempsey |
Z.Merrett | J.Daniher | J.Ashby | |
S.Mckernan |