MATT DEA and James Kelly are the top-up players most likely to continue with Essendon next year but there is no guarantee the Bombers will try to draft them, coach John Worsfold says.

Dea and Kelly were members of a group of 10 players assembled by Essendon under AFL concessions following the suspension of 12 Bombers by WADA on anti-doping charges in January.

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The others were Ryan Crowley, Jonathan Simpkin, Mathew Stokes, Mark Jamar, Sam Grimley, James Polkinghorne, Nathan Grima and Sam Michael.

Worsfold said after the Bombers' 40-point loss to the Western Bulldogs on Sunday that all of the top-up players had been important in helping Essendon remain competitive for most of 2016.

But when asked whether the Bombers would consider drafting any of those players – that is the only way the club can keep them on their list beyond this season – the Essendon coach singled out former Tiger Dea, 24, and three-time Geelong premiership player Kelly, 32.

"James Kelly and Matty Dea have been very strong performers all year," Worsfold said.

"Matty Dea is in a prime age bracket. There may be other clubs who have seen how well he's performed for us this year and may be looking at him.

"But we'll certainly look at that as an option without guaranteeing anything and Kelly is a bit the same.

"We've just got to wait and see what options we've got in terms of numbers of picks in the draft and where it all sits. So we'll work through that after next week."

Five talking points: Essendon v Western Bulldogs 

Dea has missed just one game for the Bombers this year and Kelly just two.

Spearhead Joe Daniher started Sunday's game strongly, kicking two goals in the first half and taking five contested marks, one late in the second term was another mark of the year contender. 

However, Daniher again had trouble converting his opportunities in front of goal, kicking 2.3, and his confidence was so low at times he avoided set shots by playing on and kicking around his body. 

Worsfold said Daniher would not be an elite player until he fixed this part of his game.

"Ultimately Joe has got to kick the goals that we expect him to kick. No one has 100 per cent accuracy, around the competition 65 per cent seems pretty good, but Joe is not at that level," Worsfold said.

"He has to work really hard if he wants to be an elite footballer, that's a big part of his game.

"So he needs to keep working at it, for sure."

WATCH: John Worsfold's full post-match press conference 

With one week to go in the home and away season, Worsfold said he had been pleased with his team's performance in 2016 in absence of the 12 suspended players.

"Our aim was to be competitive throughout as much of the season as we could, throughout every game if we could," he said.

"We're no different than most clubs. You have a week or two through the season when you're not up to it and that goes for the top teams as well.

"But ultimately I think that people have acknowledged that Essendon haven't been easy to play against and our players played with a positive mindset, (and have) shown a lot of leadership growth from a young list.

"It's about what I would have expected or hoped from them."