Henry Slattery will return to the Essendon side for Friday night's blockbuster against Carlton replacing the suspended Mark McVeigh, coach Matthew Knights said today.
Speaking to media with Carlton coach Brett Ratten, Knights said Nathan Lovett-Murray is also in the selection mix after a number of excellent training sessions.
Knights said he will wait to see how Adam McPhee (calf) and Brent Prismall (ribs) get through this week’s main training sessions before making any final selection decisions.
“Slattery will come back into our line up pending on how he gets through today’s session,” he said.
“Bachar Houli (virus) has been pretty crook; I would say he is very unlikely to play as he hasn’t trained all week.
“Lovett-Murray has missed five weeks now with the mid season break, mind you his training has been first class in those four or five weeks. He is really pushing the envelope pretty hard, he looks as good as I’ve ever seen him. I have to take that into account.""
Knights said he is pleased with the improved form of veteran Scott Lucas but he needs to keep putting in strong performances as he will be treated like every other player when it comes to selection.
“What we are doing with Scott is the same as any other player; you’ll be picked in the 22 on merit week in week out,” he said.
“I’ve sat down and worked through that with Scott after his stint at Bendigo, like any other player he will be picked on merit. And we’ll deal with any for next year at the end of the season.""
Knights said his side is looking forward to the crunch game against Carlton and understands that it could be a season defining game.
“This game is a huge for us. It is a massive game. There should be 80 or 90 thousand people there, so that is why the game should be a big part of this weekend’s football calendar,” he said.
“I’m sure both clubs are really looking forward to this game, I know we are.
“Whoever comes away with the victory on Friday evening, either coaching staff or playing group will be pretty happy as they will be heading in the right direction.”
When asked who would be given the big job on Brendan Fevola the coach said he expected to stick to his plan for 2009 to give young players big jobs to aid with their development.
""I would think Tayte Pears would get a chance on Fevola but we also have Dustin there playing well,"" he said.
Knights admitted Fevola was a concern and said that limiting his impact would go a long way towards deciding the result of the game
""He has kicked bags of seven, eight and nine goals on us which is pretty amazing in the modern game,"" he said.
