Two Essendon stars will face fitness tests this week in a bid to be selected for the Bombers' round two clash with Sydney at the SCG.

Head of medical services David Rundle said the club would assess Dyson Heppell (foot) and Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti (ankle) later in the week ahead of Sunday’s clash.   

“Dyson has been training with the group for the last three weeks, (and) been going really well. He’s in great shape at the moment and completed match-play on the weekend and pulled up well,” Rundle said. 

“He’ll train fully this week and a determination will be made at the end of the week as to his availability. That will depend on himself and the coaches but from our point of view, we’re really happy. 

“Towards the end of match-play (on Saturday), 'Walla' (McDonald-Tipungwuti) came down heavily on his ankle and rolled his ankle. He was in quite a deal of pain initially, and we put him in a boot and crutches over the rest of the weekend just as a precaution. 

“He has pulled up well and we’ll get an idea of how he’s looking for this weekend when he has our main session later in the week and look to test him then.” 

Rundle also provided an update on Orazio Fantasia, who will look to return to group training next week following a low-grade quad strain. 

“Orazio has had a good week. He’s been running freely, and he’ll look to integrate back in with the group next week and we’ll make some determinations then about whether he’s ready to play against Melbourne.” 

Essendon last week confirmed Tom Hird would be sidelined with a 'longer-term' injury, after the first-year Bomber suffered a navicular stress fracture.

Hird joins fellow youngsters Sam Draper and Lachlan Johnson on the injury list, who are on the comeback trail from knee reconstructions.

“Tom (Hird) is in the very early stages of recovering from that stress fracture. He’s in a boot and will be on crutches unloading that navicular bone for the next six to eight weeks. We’ll take a really conservative approach with him and build him up slowly, so we’re not (putting a) set timeframe on at the moment," Rundle said.

“Sam (Draper) is coming towards the end of his rehab now and he’s doing extremely well. He’s been doing contact progressions over the last three weeks and training fully with the group aside from the contact and we’ll look to integrate him into full training in the next week or so. He’s in terrific shape.

“Lachie (Johnson) is about six weeks down the track post-knee arthroscopy and he is still building up his strength.”