Essendon could welcome back a slew of first-choice players for their final practice match against Geelong in Bendigo on March 12.
The Bombers headed into Sunday's pre-season hit-out against Gold Coast without captain Dyson Heppell, vice-captain Zach Merrett, Cale Hooker, David Zaharakis, Mark Baguley, Orazio Fantasia, Patrick Ambrose, James Kelly, Matt Dea and David Myers.
Despite the key absentees, Essendon still gave a good account of themselves in narrowly losing to the Suns by three points in Mackay.
Coach John Worsfold envisaged a much stronger line-up for their third and final practice match before the premiership season begins.
"Out of the guys (who didn't play on Sunday) there are players like Zaharakis, Zach Merrett, Dyson Heppell we didn't bring to this game," he said.
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"There's a few other players that we'll weigh up as we go forward. Craig Bird was a bit ill during the week, Aaron Francis is overcoming some illness as well.
"Those guys, if they're ready to go, we'll certainly look at them."
Worsfold described the loss to Gold Coast as a "mixed performance" but was particularly pleased with his team's backline given Essendon convincingly lost the inside-50 count 59-40 as well as the disposals (407-350).
"Our ability to defend under real pressure was outstanding at times and some of our rebound footy from the back half we were really pleased with the ball movement," Worsfold said.
"Michael Hartley in his first game for the season under a lot of pressure early on did really well."
Meanwhile, Gold Coast coach Rodney Eade was full of praise for Alex Sexton who was close to best on ground in his first hit-out of 2017 with 26 disposals, seven marks, six clearances, eight inside-50s and two goals.
"Probably not top 10 or 12 talented players but his flexibility and run, he's improving his kicking, he's quite vital to us," Eade said.
The veteran mentor admitted there was plenty to improve on for his side, especially their inefficiency going forward.
However, Eade expected the return of the likes of Gary Ablett, Tom Lynch, Jarrod Harbrow, Jarrod Witts, Aaron Hall and Matt Rosa to be a big help.
