Essendon coach John Worsfold says he is confident he has the players at his disposal to fill the gap left by injured forward Joe Daniher.
Daniher is expected to be on the sidelines for at least a month as he rests after discovering early onset of osteitis pubis, and Worsfold said there are a number of options on the selection table for the Bombers.
“We need to rethink the personnel up there without Joey,” Worsfold said on Wednesday.
“Obviously Shaun McKernan has been in really good form, we’re really pleased with how he’s going.
“But we’ll have a look at Orazio Fantasia being available and what that means to the line-up as well, so we’ll assess how we want to assess this game.”
McKernan has booted eight goals from just three appearances in the VFL this season. While often utilised as a sole ruckman for the Bombers, the big man could fill Daniher’s role as a roaming forward pinch-hitting in the ruck.
Fantasia is far from a like-for-like replacement for last year’s Crichton Medalist, but is likely to return regardless as the club looks to inject some speed and venom into the forward line.
The small forward has played just two senior games this year due to knee and groin injuries, but Worsfold said he was “really pleased” with Fantasia’s return in the second half of the VFL side’s victory over North Melbourne last Saturday.
“There was a lot of discussion put into the best way to get Orazio back ready to play AFL footy again.
“We had a lot of discussion with Orazio, with his fitness coaches and we were rapt with how that all panned out.
“If he gets through training and again (is) passed available to play I would expect we will pick him.”
Worsfold was not interested in entertaining questions about the side’s disappointing third-quarter performances this year and said he still expects his players to improve on their impressive gameplay from last year by the season’s end.
“Our biggest issue is playing four quarters of footy, so let’s just be clear on that,” he said.
“Third quarters have been really disappointing this year, but our aim is to play a better brand of footy – the brand of footy that we’ve been talking about and working on – over four quarters.
“To improve on last year we have to play a different brand of footy and we have to play that new brand of footy at a pretty good level, so if we’re doing that I’d say we’ve improved on last year.”
Joe Daniher – who joined Worsfold at a media conference on Wednesday – admitted neither he nor the side had performed at their lofty expectations this season, but said he thinks the Bombers can bounce back this weekend.
“Footy’s a tough industry and we’re not performing the way that we want to perform,” Daniher said.
“I, as an individual, was not performing the way I wanted to perform and we’re looking to turn our form around now against Carlton this weekend and I’m looking forward to the boys doing that. “
The Bombers face the Blues at 2:10pm at the MCG on Saturday and you can get your tickets HERE.