Already missing their captain Jobe Watson for the rest of the season, the Bombers fielded one of their youngest sides in recent memory against Melbourne on Saturday with 12 players having less than 40 games experience. While the side just got the win over the Dees, it is set to have a much bigger test this week against North Melbourne on Friday night at Etihad.

Jake Carlisle (ankle), Travis Colyer (foot) and Tom Bellchambers (foot) will be out for an extended period leaving Essendon slightly undermanned in some key areas, however there are some big names lining up to return. It’s yet to be seen if James Hird will play them or continue to pump games into his youngsters given finals are pretty much out of the question.

The Bombers will be hoping to regain Paul Chapman (groin), Heath Hocking (groin) and possibly Jason Winderlich (shin).

Chapman will face a fitness test this week following a groin injury. The veteran has been missing from the side since Round 11.

Hocking had surgery on his left groin in December and the gun tagger underwent a second operation on his right groin six weeks later. He hasn’t played a game this year and it’s unclear if he’ll have to make his comeback via the VFL.

Defender Dustin Fletcher is listed as a ‘week-to-week’ proposition after suffering a groin injury in Round 9 while David Myers’ attempted comeback via the VFL last week hit a minor hurdle and he re-injured his knee.

Essendon sits in 14th place on the ladder and managed to snap a five game losing streak and bounce back from a 110-point drubbing against St Kilda with victory on the weekend.