Despite a couple of untimely niggles, star Essendon full forward Matthew Lloyd will be fit for the Bombers round one clash with Geelong at the MCG on March 30th. Lloyd missed Essendon's final Wizard Cup match agaimst Fremantle with ankle soreness and a slight groin injury was subsequently discovered. ""The ankle was going to keep him out of the Fremantle match anyway and it probably turned out to be a blessing. He had some slight soreness in the groin after training mid-week and since he was going to miss anyway we decided to have an MRI done. It showed he had a slight nick in the muscle - had he played it could have developed into something more significant,"" Essendon football manager Matthew Drain said.

As a result Lloyd will miss this weekend's practice match against West Coast at Optus Oval and is unlikely to play in the final practice match at Lavington. ""He will miss one and maybe two. There really isn't much point in risking him at this time of year. He showed in the first couple of Wizard Cup games that he is in pretty good form,"" Drain said.

There was good news on the injury front with Danny Jacobs having made significant improvement in the past week. Jacobs injured a knee against Port Adelaide and was expected to miss another three weeks but he will now join in light training this week and may even be available to play in a practice match before the home and away season commences.