Captain Dyson Heppell is likely to return to Essendon’s best 22 for its clash with the Suns this week.

The 29-year-old missed Sunday's win over the Bulldogs after sustaining a fracture in his left thumb in the round 20 match against Sydney.

Head of high performance Sean Murphy said all signs pointed positively to a return after Heppell suffered the same injury in his right hand only a month ago, which only resulted in him missing a week.

“'Hepp' will just do what he did a couple of weeks ago after that Geelong game,” Murphy told Dons Digital’s Liberty Financial Performance Update.

“He’ll just integrate into some skills this week and make sure he’s comfortable with that fractured thumb and all things are looking pretty positive at the moment.

“He’s a test for this week but we expect things to go pretty smoothly.”

Essendon’s midfield could be further boosted before the end of the season with Andrew McGrath making quicker-than-expected progress in his recovery from a knee injury.

The 23-year-old made enormous strides in his rehabilitation while being isolated in quarantine, which has set up the inside midfielder for an imminent return.

“Andy’s really knocking down the door,” Murphy said.

“He’s ticking all the boxes from a rehab perspective and when he was in isolation up in Queensland, he did above and beyond what we expected, so he’s come out of it really well.

“He’s going to integrate into skills this week with the main group and we’ll progress him over the next week or so.”

Young midfielder Jye Caldwell has also made steps towards a return to play after successfully completing a full week of training.

The 20-year-old will again be put through another week of sessions before any consideration is given to playing.

“'Calders' is tracking along nicely now,” Murphy said.

“He’s in his second week of full training and we’ll build that up over this week and see how he progresses.”

Murphy also highlighted an extraordinary high-performance effort from the entire round 21 side and a stellar individual effort from midfielder Dylan Clarke.

Watch round 22’s Liberty Financial Performance Update below. 

INJURY LIST - ROUND 22