The selection conundrum at Essendon ahead of Anzac Day

As Essendon basks in the glory of another gritty win, its fourth for the season, an intriguing selection battle looms for Brad Scott ahead of Anzac Day.

The Bombers moved into the top eight with their Friday night win over Adelaide, collecting four points in the fly-in, fly-out mission.

They’ve done it without some of their best players, and the cavalry begins to return this week with Peter Wright.

The key forward was suspended earlier this year but has served his time and will almost certainly feature against Collingwood. It leaves the question of who will miss out.

David King believes it will be 35-year-old recruit Todd Goldstein.

“I think they got Goldstein for this period, to bridge through the early weeks of this season to get (Sam) Draper to full fitness because he had an interrupted pre-season,” King said on SEN’s Crunch Time.

“So I think Goldstein would be the one to make way, and your second ruck becomes a mix of (Harrison) Jones and Wright.

“You can’t be dropping Jones on what you’ve seen the last couple of weeks.”

On Friday, Goldstein took the Lion’s share of the ruck duties as Draper roamed the forward 50 in what was the latter’s poorest showing this season.

On that performance, Kane Cornes thinks Draper may be the unlucky man.

“I think the one issue they’ve got is who rucks for them? Because I’m telling you, Draper is not a forward. He does not look like a forward. He took one big mark late (against Adelaide) but he’s an ordinary set shot,” Cornes said on AFL Nation.

“They clearly prefer Goldstein in the ruck which is amazing and a credit to Goldy at his age to come into a new club and be the preferred ruckman.

“Wright comes back in, they can’t play two rucks and Wright. So it looks to me like Draper is going to be left out, which would be a huge call.”

However, the Port Adelaide great is certain that young key forward Jones has done enough to cement his place in the team.

Originally left out of Scott’s 23 when Wright was suspended in a dire sign for his career, Jones’ resurgence in his 5th year in the system has been inspiring.

He’s kicked multiple goals in three of his last four games and could improve again with Wright’s inclusion.

“This guy should never play VFL again, every time you see him play he does something,” Cornes said of Jones.

“It might only be seven touches and a goal, but you go, ‘gee, there’s something there’, and all of a sudden you build on that.

“Defensively he’s joining in, he’s standing up in big moments and kicking big goals. Just play him, he’s your perfect third tall, ideal.

“Wright comes back in, we’ve got Langford and Jones and (Jake) Stringer, that’s a nice forward line.”

Matt Guelfi and Will Setterfield could also return this week, with the likes of Archie Perkins, Zach Reid and Jye Menzie not far behind.

Essendon heads into Anzac Day with a pair of wins in the last fortnight, while Collingwood hasn’t lost since Round 2. A crowd of well over 90,000 is expected for Thursday afternoon’s clash.