Essendon skipper James Hird will have a MRI scan this afternoon to determine the severity of his calf strain. In an unfortunate incident at training last Friday afternoon the skipper injured his calf muscle. The training session proved to be costly to the Bombers with Joe Misiti also injuring himself and as a result was a late withdrawal from yesterday's match. Misiti rolled his ankle in a training drill and fitness coach John Quinn said scans have revealed he has slight ligament damage. ""We are hoping Joe will get up for this week. He will spend time in the hyperbaric chamber this week to speed up the recovery process,"" Quinn said.

Dustin Fletcher has not played since the Round 6 match against Fremantle. The All Australian defender landed awkwardly in a marking contest and damaged ligaments in his ankle. Despite training all of last week Fletcher ruled himself out of the West Coast game after training on Friday afternoon. ""Dustin nearly got across the line to play but just failed a fitness test on Friday afternoon. We are hoping he will be 100% fit to play against Sydney on Saturday night,"" Quinn said.

Damien Peverill was forced out of yesterday's match with a bout of gastro. He is expected to return to training on Wednesday and be available for selection. Paul Barnard has served his two match suspension and will also be available for selection this week. In other injury news Adam Ramanauskas is hoping to be available for selection for the match after the bye. The premiership player has been doing cross training work and recommenced skills training last week.

“At this early stage of the week it looks like we will have close to a full list to chose from with Peverill, Barnard and Fletcher all available for selection. The other good news is we got through the West Coast match without any injuries – something that has been rare this season,” Quinn said.