While Lloyd and Fletcher have been named in the 25-man squad set to travel to Perth to meet West Coast at Subiaco on Friday, McPhee is again missing from the side and will enter the home-and-away season without a senior hit-out behind him.
McPhee showed signs his hamstring worries have continued at training on Tuesday, where he was restricted to run-throughs and bike riding while his teammates embarked on an intensive session.
Lloyd has been nursing hamstring and Fletcher knee soreness in the past four weeks, and the pair will get their first competitive opportunity for the year this week against the Eagles after being deemed fit.
"[Lloyd] will get to have a hit-out or two before the season starts which is very important because it will give him some touch rather than just training," assistant coach Scott Camporeale said on essendonfc.com.au.
"I would have thought it has been frustrating for him after getting through the pre-season training and then getting soreness before the first intra-club game.
"While it would have been nice to see him playing earlier, we were always looking towards round one and didn't want to take any risks with him during the pre-season.
"Getting two of our key players back at this time of year is a big plus because we really wanted to make sure they have a few games under their belt before the season proper begins."
Missing from the side is midfielder Andrew Welsh, who left the field early during the Windy Hill hit-out with no obvious injury but wearing a look of frustration.
Ruckman David Hille participated in about 45 minutes of the hit-out before heading for the race, but has still been named in the squad set to travel west.
Youngster Leroy Jetta, who literally copped the brunt of the session's intensity head-on when he received a blood nose during some contact work, has suffered no ill-effects and is in the squad.
Recent Bomber bad boys Andrew Lovett and Tom Hislop trained strongly on Tuesday but will miss again owing to in-house suspensions.
Full Essendon squad
2 Ricky Dyson
4 Jobe Watson
5 Brent Stanton
6 Angus Monfries
7 Leroy Jetta
9 Adam Ramanauskas
10 Mark McVeigh
11 Damien Peverill
14 Jason Johnson
15 Courtenay Dempsey
16 Tayte Pears
17 Jay Nash
18 Matthew Lloyd
19 David Hille
20 Henry Slattery
21 Courtney Johns
25 Scott Lucas
27 Jason Laycock
29 Alwyn Davey
30 Patrick Ryder
31 Dustin Fletcher
36 Sam Lonergan
42 Nathan Lovett-Murray
43 Bachar Houli
44 Tom Bellchambers
Full West Coast squad
2 Mark LeCras
5 Tyson Stenglein
6 Mark Nicoski
7 Chad Fletcher
8 Beau Waters
10 Michael Braun
11 Matt Priddis
12 Jamie McNamara
14 Mark Seaby
15 Chad Jones
17 Josh Kennedy
18 Brad Ebert
20 Dean Cox
21 Quinten Lynch
22 Jaymie Graham
23 Darren Glass
24 Matt Rosa
27 Ben McKinley
29 Ashley Hansen
30 Matt Spangher
31 Will Schofield
32 Andrew Embley
35 Steven Armstrong
37 Adam Selwood
38 Brett Jones
39 Adam Hunter
41 Brent Staker
44 David Wirrpanda
