Essendon veteran Dean Wallis was today selected for this Saturday's Preliminary Final against Hawthorn. Wallis was named at full forward in a direct swap for suspended spearhead Matthew Lloyd. Wallis has played just 10 minutes of senior football this season - that coming in round four when Essendon played Sydney at the SCG. But since that time Wallis has been dogged by back-related hamstring problems. He played a handful of games for the Essendon VFL side towards the end of the season. Wallis cemented his selection with some excellent form on the training track over the past two weeks.

The Wallis selection might surprise some but it is far from unprecedented. In 1993, Wallis was rushed back into a Grand Final side after missing a number of games through injury. ""Some might say we are taking a bit of a risk but he has been very solid on the training track this week,"" Essendon football manager Matthew Drain said. ""He is a very important part of this side and we wouldn't select him if there were any major doubts over his fitness.""