Essendon will field a near full strength side against Bendig o in their VFL season opener at Queen Elizabeth Oval on Friday night with up to 21 AFL listed players in line for selection.

Coach Hayden Skipworth said it was exciting to be taking such an experienced outfit into the club’s opening VFL match.

“We have been lucky over the last three games we have had a near full strength side so hopefully we can get the guys through unscathed again and get the win,” Skipworth said.

“To have guys like Jason Winderlich, David Hille and Tayte Pears in your team there is a lot of strength and obviously plenty of experience as well.”

“We look forward to those guys leading the team by example and in their performance.”

Essendon’s VFL team has had a strong pre-season campaign winning all three of their practice matches.

Skipworth said it was important his side did not under-estimate the ability of a young Bendigo side.

“We expect them to come out and be really competitive and we will be trying to get the win like any team to get off to a good start,” Skipworth said.

“We expect a tough hard game for three quarters and I am sure we will get that.”

In further exciting news for Bomber fans, the VFL has granted permission for father/son prospect Daniel Thompson to be 23^rd man.

There are a number of ways for Bomber fans to keep up to date with Friday night’s match against Bendigo, see the below list.

Online – A live blog of the match on essendonfc.com.au.

Online – Radio broadcast via www.vfl.com.au.

On your digital radio – Tune in each week on Aussie digital radio (SEN 2).

On your iPhone – Via the Red Time Sport iPhone app which you can download for free from iTunes.