Essendon has received a timely boost on the eve of its 2004 season opener with news that Port Adelaide ruckman Matthew Primus will miss tomorrow’s game. Primus, who has been battling to overcome a side strain, failed a fitness test this morning and Port coach Mark Williams has told the media his star ruckman is out.

But Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy – as cagey as ever – said he would wait until the Port Adelaide side ran out before he was convinced the Bombers had one less big man to worry about.

""Primus is a great player – if he was up for contract and wanted to come to Essendon I would take him tomorrow. If he is out of the side – and we don’t know until they run out there – he has been sore for a while and it is probably a smart decision,"" Sheedy said.

""Port Adelaide are going to be a very different side this time around. They have had one of the best midfields in the competition but they have lost Nick Stevens and that is a lot of possessions to come out of your side and Josh Francou is unfortunately injured again,"" Sheedy said.

""The players they have previously used as taggers now need to make up for those lost possessions. We are in the same boat – we have got to develop a midfield. And I think that is why we have got a pretty interesting game coming up.""

""I want us to at least play well and we are pretty excited that we have got some young players to have a look at. No matter what happens tomorrow we have got another 21 weeks to go but it would be a pretty exciting start to the season for us if we can get it right tomorrow,"" Sheedy said.

Sheedy said the return of Adam Ramanauskas had deliberately been kept low key.

""Rama has been good and he has been back training for quite a while now. We have not gone over the top with him in terms of the media because we think it will be easier for him to handle it that way. We just want to get him back, playing well and feeling a real part of the team,"" Sheedy said.