Ben Rutten has provided an update on star Essendon forwards Jake Stringer and Anthony McDonald-Tipunguwti.
The star duo have been among the biggest omissions from the main training group in recent weeks, with the Bombers looking to hit the ground running after their impressive rise up the ladder last year.
Stringer was rated by Champion Data as the best player in the competition after the bye last year and entered 2022 with hopes he could sustain that form for the entire year.
However, a groin injury has slowed him down in recent weeks, but Rutten is confident the 27-year-old is on track for an early-season return.
Building ⏳ pic.twitter.com/04JYKgCabE
— Essendon FC (@essendonfc) March 3, 2022
“He’s a really important player for us,” Rutten told SEN Breakfast.
“He was having a pretty good pre-season up until a few weeks ago where he was starting to get a little bit of groin soreness.
“We decided to be a little bit conservative with him and take him out of the program for a couple of weeks, which means he didn’t play last week and he’s not going to play this week for us.
“But if everything continues along with his rehab we’re expecting him to be available for Round 1 for us.
“Not a huge concern for us at this time of year, we’d certainly love to get some game time into him but yeah, expecting him to be fit and healthy for Round 1.”
However, the rookie coach doesn’t share the same optimism about McDonald-Tipungwuti.
Already suffering from a calf injury, the star small forward took a leave from absence from Essendon early in February for “personal reasons”.
The 28-year-old kicked the second-most goals behind Stringer last year, and with Cale Hooker (33 goals in 2021) retiring last year, it presents a large lack of options up forward.
Rutten suggested that McDonald-Tipungwuti, who spent time training at Essendon earlier this week, needed to improve his fitness to get back into the selection frame.
“I think he’s in a pretty good space, and he’s improving all the time, which is the main thing for us,” he said.
“Without going into the finer details, he had a few things he’s been managing and working with off-field, all part of his continued growth as a person and we’ve been fully supportive of Anthony and making sure we’re there for him the best we can.
“I’ve been working really closely with Anthony, spoke to him the other day, he’s really keen to start progressing and doing more and more in his training.
“We’re continually looking to build him up over the next few weeks, continue to build his fitness base, get the work in that he needs to be able to set him up to return at his best.
“I think ultimately that’s what we want, that’s what he wants and we want to make sure we’re seeing him out there again in the Red and Black and exciting the fans like we know he can.”
Good to have you back, Walla ❤️🖤 pic.twitter.com/FOJDzstMrK
— Essendon FC (@essendonfc) March 1, 2022
Therefore, it seems unlikely fans will see the livewire back on the park early in the season.
“The best case scenario at the moment is that we get a really good continuity in his preparation and training, and I think that’s going to be the best thing that’s going to set him up for us to be able to see him back,” Rutten added.
“The realistic (case), in the early parts of the season, I don’t think we’re going to see much of him out on the AFL field, but certainly looking to see as the season progresses, we want to make sure that we’re setting him up to return, we want to see him back at his best.
“That’s the main thing we’re trying to focus on at the moment, he’s in a good space, he loves coming into the footy club, he’s getting all the support that I think he would want and expect from the club and the players as well.”
The Bombers had a narrow win in last week’s practice game against the Western Bulldogs , while they play St Kilda in their second and final warm-up game on Saturday.
Listen to the full interview with Ben Rutten below