Essendon senior coach John Worsfold says Sam Draper and James Stewart are in the mix for selection for Sunday's clash with the Crows at Adelaide Oval.

Stewart hasn't featured at senior level since 2018 after battling groin injuries, while Draper is in line for his AFL debut after recovering from a knee reconstruction.

Both have impressed in the Bombers' past two scratch matches, offering Worsfold the option of an extra tall against the Crows.

"We'd be comfortable to bring him (Stewart) into the side with the hitouts he's had. He's not going to be at his best for a period of time, but that doesn't mean he can't perform well. We just think he'll be at his best when he's had a few (senior) hitouts," Worsfold said.

"We've also got the option to look at playing an extra ruckman who can spend some time up forward.

"We haven't got to the point of comparing the mix. If we decide on an extra tall to either assist or give us another big fella down forward, we'll weigh up what we think we need.

"If we're going to play two (ruckmen), we've got Draper ready to go now and pretty excited about waiting for his opportunity. Phillips and Bellchambers are also ready to go."

The Bombers enter round eight on the back of a disappointing 42-point loss to the Western Bulldogs, kicking just seven goals - their fewest of the season.

They were again without star goalkickers Jake Stringer (syndesmosis) and Joe Daniher (calf/groin), while the option of playing Cale Hooker forward has been lost after the veteran defender strained a calf and will miss at least a fortnight.

Worsfold said injuries hadn't allowed the Bombers to find their best mix inside 50, but stressed the importance of system over personnel.

"Overall, we didn't get the ball forward enough last week and we had a lot of shallow entries, so I'm really confident in the guys getting the job done when we get enough football in there and perform better across the whole field," he said.

"When our stoppages are working better and when our backs are transitioning better and we get it inside 50, we've shown that we can score well. I won't be blaming just the forwards for last week.

"It was the team that didn't perform up to the level but in saying that we're constantly searching at the moment for what our best line-up is up forward.

"We're working out how we think it's going to look longer term because we'd like to start working towards that, but some of these injuries have challenged that."

The Bombers will make at least one change this week, with Brandon Zerk-Thatcher, Aaron Francis or Martin Gleeson in line to replace Hooker.

They'll name an extended squad on Thursday evening, with the final team to be revealed at 5pm AEST on Friday.