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ESSENDON SQUAD IS FIT AND FIRING
Essendon will have close to a full compliment of players to choose from for the first Elimination Final against Fremantle. Steve Alessio was unavailable for the match against Collingwood, but fitness coach John Quinn is confident the Bomber veteran will be available for selection this week. ""He was very close in the game against Collingwood, but as it panned out he probably couldn't have got up for that game. We did a recovery session and an additional training session for him over the weekend and he was pretty good, so the expectation is he will be available for the game,"" Quinn said.
Essendon will have close to a full compliment of players to choose from for the first Elimination Final against Fremantle. Steve Alessio was unavailable for the match against Collingwood, but fitness coach John Quinn is confident the Bomber veteran will be available for selection this week. ""He was very close in the game against Collingwood, but as it panned out he probably couldn't have got up for that game. We did a recovery session and an additional training session for him over the weekend and he was pretty good, so the expectation is he will be available for the game,"" Quinn said.
Despite Essendon not having an impressive travel record in recent years, Quinn is confident the team is in good enough form to win the match. He believes the team is playing a confident brand of football and having a seven-day break will be of great benefit to its chances. ""The big factor is when we have travelled interstate the last few years we haven't had our full list available. So there are no excuses this Friday night - because we have our full list, they are all fit and all firing. We are ready for this game and whatever comes our way and we are pretty confident,"" Quinn said.
Essendon will have one major training session this week in preparation for the knock-out final. The skills session will be held at Windy Hill this Wednesday at 3pm. All Essendon supporters are welcome to attend the training session. ""Wednesday is the main training day for our supporters to come along and get behind the boys before we head to Perth to launch our finals campaign,"" Quinn said.
Essendon will face Fremantle this Friday night in the first Elimination Final. It is a repeat of the Round 21 match except with one major difference. The venue for this knock-out final is Subiaco, not The Dome. It is the first time the clubs have met in a finals match. Essendon will travel to Perth midway through the week to prepare for the must-win final. The final will commence at 6.40pm local time on Friday evening.