Dylan Shiel could make his long-awaited return from injury against GWS on Sunday, with the star midfielder among four inclusions to the Bombers' squad.

The 28-year-old joins David Zaharakis, Nick Bryan and last week's unused medical substitute Martin Gleeson as inclusions to an eight-man extended bench, which will be trimmed to four on Friday.

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Rd 19 | Squad selection

Senior coach Ben Rutten takes us through the squad to face GWS at Metricon Stadium in round 19.

Should Shiel be named in the final team, the round 19 clash will mark his third AFL game this season and first since suffering a torn meniscus against Port Adelaide in round two.

The Bombers have no confirmed outs at this stage, with their final changes to be confirmed at 5pm AEST on Friday.

They'll face the Giants from 6:10pm AEST at Metricon Stadium on Sunday, with their VFL side in action earlier against Southport from 12pm at Fankhauser Reserve. The round 15 VFL match can be streamed live via Kayo Freebies.

ESSENDON'S ROUND 19 EXTENDED SQUAD

Backs: Jayden Laverde, James Stewart, Mason Redman
Half-backs: Dyson Heppell (C), Jordan Ridley, Nick Hind
Centreline: Devon Smith, Zach Merrett, Nik Cox
Half-forwards: Archie Perkins, Peter Wright, Will Snelling
Forwards: Jake Stringer, Cale Hooker, Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti
Followers: Sam Draper, Tom Cutler, Darcy Parish
Interchange from: Sam Durham, David Zaharakis, Matt Guelfi, Brayden Ham, Nick Bryan, Martin Gleeson, Alec Waterman, Dylan Shiel

In: Shiel, Zaharakis, Bryan, Gleeson

Out: Nil

Last week's medical sub: Gleeson (not used)