Essendon wants a serious hit-out in this Friday’s twilight exhibition match against Sydney and will give most of its senior players some ground time against the reigning premiers. Matthew Lloyd is a certain starter in the game that starts at 7pm at North Sydney Oval while former captain James Hird has also been named in the squad of 24.

But it doesn’t mean the Bombers won’t be doing their bit for international relations with Japanese youngster Michito Sakaki also being named in the squad. Sakaki, along with Tsuyoshi Kase, has spent the past three months doing pre-season with the Bombers and has impressed enough to earn a trip north.

The Essendon squad will fly out for Sydney this Friday morning. The entire squad will then head to the Gold Coast on Saturday for a four-day community camp leading into the NAB Cup opener against Brisbane the following Friday.

""We have named most of our available senior players, we think it is important they get a run under their belt prior to our match against Brisbane,"" Essendon assistant Dean Wallis said. ""The players want to play as well – after a long pre-season they look forward to the competitive stuff.""

The Essendon squad for the game is:

Andrew Lee, Dustin Fletcher, Nathan Lovett-Murray, Kepler Bradley, Andrew Welsh, Mark McVeigh, Henry Slattery, David Hille, Brent Stanton, Scott Camporeale, Chris Heffernan, Matthew Lloyd, Michito Sakaki, Scott Lucas, Jobe Watson, Mark Johnson, James Hird, Ricky Dyson, Angus Monfries, Jason Winderlich, Courtenay Dempsey, Mark Bolton, Joel Reynolds, Patrick Ryder.