Essendon looks certain to inject some star power into its side to take on the undefeated St Kilda on Sunday.

Speaking to the media as the team trained at MSAC today, Matthew Knights highlighted the likely return of Andrew Welsh and Andrew Lovett and would not rule out the possibility of other big-name inclusions, namely Matthew Lloyd and Jason Winderlich.

“Andrew Lovett and Andrew Welsh will be up for selection this week and Tom Bellchambers has served his suspension in the VFL so he will be available for selection,” Knights said.

“Jason (Winderlich) and Matthew (Lloyd) are making really good progress to play sooner rather than later.

“This is our first real training session of the week so we will have a look at them this morning and see how they pull up.

“They are probably more on the unlikely side of things rather than likely at this stage but we will give them the opportunity to see how they go today.”
Click here to watch the Knights media conference on Bomber.tv.
Knights said although Lloyd was progressing well from injury, he has a way to go before he is declared fit to play.

“He is certainly moving a lot more freely with his running but he hasn’t got into boots yet and he hasn’t really stretched out on it or put the foot to the floor,"" he said.

“That will be the big test for him but he has made good progression and is going really well.

The club is also taking a tentative approach with blistering midfielder Jason Winderlich who underwent two major back operations at the end of last season despite the 24-year-old declaring himself ready to play.

“Jason freed up really well in the last seven days, he walked around last week putting his hand up for selection but that’s just Jason,” Knights said.

“It was a very bad back spasm. It locked up on him but he has freed up now terrifically well.

“Our initial concern was it was linked to his other injury but that is not the case. We are really confident that he is going to be fine long term but we certainly won’t be taking any risks with him in the short term.”

Darcy Daniher is another prospective candidate who could be given a taste of senior football this weekend after kicking five goals for Bendigo last Saturday.

“We were pleased with Darcy’s performance on the weekend. Obviously we have played him down back a lot earlier in his time at Essendon but when he played in the TAC cup he used to play forward,"" Knights said.

“He was very aggressive on the weekend and marked the ball strongly. He is certainly pushing up but it would be tough for him to push into the side with Neagle and Hurley likely to hold their spots.”
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