Essendon’s three big offseason recruits have been named to play against Adelaide on Friday night.
Jake Stringer, Devon Smith and Adam Saad will all play their first games for the club at Etihad Stadium.
Smith has been named in the midfield, while Stringer (forward) and Saad (back) are selected on the flanks.
The Bombers are without first-choice players Orazio Fantasia (knee), Martin Gleeson (foot), David Myers (calf) and Patrick Ambrose (wrist) through injury.
Ben McNiece (hamstring), Travis Colyer (foot), Jayden Laverde (hamstring) and Kobe Mutch (knee) were also unavailable for selection.
There was a question mark over the fitness of midfielder Darcy Parish after he was spotted at a scanning clinic on Monday. However, he trained with the main group on Tuesday morning and the Bombers are confident he will play despite the precautionary scans.
The Essendon team is:
B: Matt Dea, Michael Hurley, Michael Hartley
HB: Adam Saad, Mitch Brown, Brendon Goddard
C: David Zaharakis, Zach Merrett, Darcy Parish
HF: Jake Stringer, Cale Hooker, Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti
F: Josh Begley, Joe Daniher, James Stewart
FOL: Tom Bellchambers, Dyson Heppell, Devon Smith
INT: Andrew McGrath, Kyle Langford, Josh Green, Conor McKenna
EMG: Jackson Merrett, Mason Redman, Mark Baguley, Shaun McKernan
