Essendon hope to have best-and-fairest winner Peter Wright taking part in of their AFL pre-season video games after the important thing ahead harm his calf at coaching.
As the Bombers work on their evident defensive issues underneath new coach Brad Scott, No.5 draft choose Elijah Tsatas will certainly miss the beginning of the season after final month’s knee surgical procedure.
Jake Stringer was additionally on mild duties throughout Thursday morning’s coaching session at Tullamarine, however Essendon say that was deliberate for the star ahead.
Gold Coast will host Essendon on February 23 in a match simulation session earlier than the Bombers play St Kilda in a March 3 pre-season match at Moorabbin.
“He went off the scan and I think it came back all-clear,” teammate Mason Redman stated of Wright.
“If we can get them out there for those practice games it will be huge because he’s massive for our structure. But having a chat to him this morning it seems like he’s going really well.”
Redman disregarded imaginative and prescient of his conflict with Stringer throughout a coaching session final month.
“All the boys are competitive. That’s why we’re here,” Redman stated.
“Once you get into a match sim (simulation), everyone’s competitive nature gets going and there are some clashes out there.
“It was only a good cuddle for us. Five minutes later, we have been having a chat and it was all good.”
No decision has been made on the Essendon captaincy, with Redman saying Scott wants to see how pre-season training progresses.
There is some speculation about whether Dyson Heppell will continue in the role.
“If it got here round they usually thought I used to be the best man for the job, 100 per cent I’d throw my hand up,” Redman stated.
“The method I take a look at it, Dyson remains to be our captain.
“I get the sense he’d want to lead the club again.”
Redman stated chasing and defensive stress had been key themes via the pre-season after final 12 months’s catastrophe season.
The Bombers crash-dived out of the highest eight to fifteenth and coach Ben Rutten finally was sacked in a chaotic post-season.
“Brad’s been big on pressure and chase pressure, that sort of thing,” Redman stated.
“If we can bring that from a midfield and forward point of view, it can give us a lot of good stability behind the ball.
“Defence wins premierships. It’s one thing we have struggled at … it has been an enormous focus for us.
“It’s been clear if you look at the stats that we’ve really struggled at stopping the opposition from transitioning the ball for a number of years now. It’s been a big focus of ours over this pre-season.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
