Essendon senior coach John Worsfold says he won’t take any risks with Dyson Heppell and Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti, despite the star duo being named in the Bombers’ extended round two squad.
Heppell (foot) and McDonald-Tipungwuti (ankle) were listed as tests earlier in the week, making positive steps since to put their hands up for selection against Sydney.
SEE THE BOMBERS' EXTENDED SQUAD
Worsfold said he’d have a clearer picture on their availability after Friday’s main training session, with the 26-man squad to be trimmed to 22 afterwards at 5pm AEST.
Should they play, Sunday’s match at the SCG will mark Heppell’s first of the season after off-season foot surgery, and McDonald-Tipungwuti’s 80th in a row.
“I’m confident, but we won’t take any risks with any players. There’s a lot of footy to be played,” Worsfold said.
“They’ve done really well to put their names up on the board, but there are still some serious boxes they’ve got to tick in our main training session on Friday. Hopefully they get through that and we can make the decision to include them.”
McDonald-Tipungwuti’s potential absence would add to an injury-hit forward line, which last week lost goalsneak Orazio Fantasia to a low-grade quad strain.
But Worsfold said the return of key forward Shaun McKernan, who missed round one with pneumonia, and the form of new arrival Jacob Townsend, who booted three goals in his club debut in round one, had him “really pleased” with the depth in the Bombers’ forward 50.
At the other end of the ground, Essendon has all of its defenders except the suspended Brandon Zerk-Thatcher fit and available.
It means the dashing Conor McKenna and courageous Martin Gleeson will have to wait at least another week for their first games of the season.
McKenna returned to training a week later than his teammates, having completed a mandatory 14-day quarantine period after returning from overseas.
While the 24-year-old returned in strong shape, Worsfold said it was too risky to select him for round two.
“Conor is probably not quite ready to play. He would say he could play, but he’d be at extremely high risk of either sustaining an injury or pulling up extremely sore and not being able to maintain his work-rate over the next few weeks,” he said.
“I feel that the extra week is about making sure he plays out a really strong season for us.”
The Bombers will be striving to keep their unbeaten start to the season intact and snap a seven-game losing streak at the SCG on Sunday, which stretches back to 2009.
Worsfold said all the signs pointed towards a strong showing.
“We’ve worked extremely hard to cover all our bases to make sure we’re prepared from a game-plan and physical point of view,” he said.
“It’s been a credit to everyone for how much work they’ve put in to make sure that we’ve dealt with the situation we’ve been in, and we’ve made sure we’ve looked at every angle to get our best preparation.
“I couldn’t really ask for anything more. We go up there ready to give it our best shot.”
The Bombers and Swans will go head-to-head from 3:35pm AEST, with the match broadcast live on Channel 7.
