Williams, who is listed in the AFL media guide as 86kg, arrived at the Bombers from Hawthorn in the 2009 trade period in exchange for Essendon's pick 16, which they received when they traded Andrew Lovett to St Kilda.
Twice the leading goalkicker at the Hawks, and the leading goal scorer in the Hawks 2008 premiership win, Williams, 27, struggled in 2010 with a persistent ankle injury and played just the first four matches for the Bombers before battling the injury through the VFL and then opting for surgery.
Football manager PaulHamilton said the coaching staff was very happy with the way Williams has presented himself for training.
"We’d love to see a good year for him in 2011 and it’s important for him too," Hamilton told essendonfc.com.au.
"He’s working hard at his training and has his diet is on track so we are happy with his progress and we hope it can continue."
But there is concern over injury-plagued forward Scott Gumbleton who has being ordered to rest after reporting knee pain.
The 22-year-old played 17 of his 22 career games in 2010 before broken ribs and a punctured lung ended his season.
Hamilton said the club was hoping that a short break from full training would resolve the problem.
"It is a little bit of a wait and see process at the moment, but we are certainly hoping it is an injury that can be handled with rest," he said.
"We’ll l know a little bit more in a week’s time but at the moment it only looks like a slight knee problem.
"Sometimes you need to take further action but at the moment we are going through that rest period where we try to keep him off his legs for the next week or so.
"He will still be participating in swimming and bike training and we will see how he comes up from there."
Also resting is David Myers, who will miss a month of training in an effort to sort out a stress reaction in his foot, while David Zaharakis is expected to return to full training in a fortnight after recovering from medial ligament surgery at the end of the season.
