Essendon coach James Hird believes he'll be able to bring back the Bomber big guns for round one, despite the uncertainty plaguing the club.
Judgment day arrives for Essendon on March 31, when the AFL anti-doping tribunal hands down a verdict on the club's 2012 supplements program.
More than a dozen senior players, including captain Jobe Watson, face the possibility of long playing bans.
They've opted to sit out the pre-season competition in the hope that any ban could be back-dated to their last AFL matches.
Speaking after the Bombers' gutsy 0.11.11 (77) to 0.11.9 (75) win over Melbourne, Hird offered only his plan A for round one - having everyone available at the selection table.
"We think we'll have our best team," he said.
"We're preparing to have our best team and we're confident we will."
While the motley crew of younger Bombers, post-2012 recruits and "top-up" players won their first pre-season match on Friday night, the rest of the club's list had another training hit out at Tullamarine.
Hird said he was keen to throw the more experienced players straight in against the Swans.
"We think they're ready to go round one," he said.
"We'll train pretty hard late next week and then treat the week before the Sydney game as a normal week obviously with a big event in the middle of it."
Hird said it was anyone's guess how the group that missed the NAB Challenge would make the transition from training to senior footy without training matches.
"Were not going to know until quarter time of the Sydney game, or half time of the Sydney game really how match-hardened we are," he said.
"But were very confident of the program we've put in place, were very confident that the guys have trained extremely hard."
Hird said the "top-up" players brought in to fill the gap would stay with the club for at least another three weeks, irrespective of the March 31 decision.
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