Essendon is still to make a decision on who will serve as acting captain for the Bombers for the remainder of 2006 in lieu of Matthew Lloyd's season-ending hamstring injury. Lloyd is now resting at home following surgery and the Club will consult him, and members of the leadership group, before deciding who will assume the on-field captaincy duties.

""We have not made a decision about the acting captaincy and given the short lead time into the next game we won't make a call on it until next week in all likelihood,"" Essendon chief executive Peter Jackson said.  

""We won't make a decision until we have spoken to Matthew - he will of course remain captain of the Club but obviously we need to find someone to take over the job on field. Until such time, James Hird will assume role as acting captain.""