Both Tayte Pears (arm) and Kyle Reimers (thumb) were expected to miss at least another week and possibly another three with their respective injuries.
But the duo's rehabilitation has progressed faster than expected, with both training on Tuesday in a bid to prove their fitness for the Tigers' match.
Their possible availability comes as a welcome fillip for coach Matthew Knights, who will be without key defender Cale Hooker after he strained his hamstring in Sunday's win over St Kilda.
“It is a speedy recovery,” Knights said from Windy Hill on Tuesday morning.
“That won't be a football decision, that will be a medical decision with Pears and Reimers if they are physically right to play.
“If we get medical clearance then we'll sit down at match committee and have a look at the make-up of the team.”
Knights said the loss of Hooker, who had been “a revelation” in defence this season, would hurt the Dons but others would fill the breach.
Along with Pears and Reimers, Nathan Lovett-Murray (foot) and Sam Lonergan (late withdrawal) also had a run on Tuesday after missing the game against the Saints.
“We’ve got four guys on the flipside that are pushing pretty hard to come into the selection mix this week,” he said.
“So after today’s session I’ll be a little wiser on those guys and one of them will come in for Cale obviously, and then we’ll have a look whether we make any changes apart from that.”
The Bombers might consider themselves lucky not to be searching for a replacement for ruckman David Hille, whose match-day report for engaging in rough conduct against Brendon Goddard was thrown out by the AFL’s match review panel.
It was the big man’s third close shave of the season after already having two prior bookings dismissed this year.
“David is a physical player but he’s endeavouring to do it in a fair way and I guess the match review [panel] have deemed it that way,” Knights said.
“I’m not sure whether we’re lucky [or] unlucky. Some decisions go your way and others don’t - you’ve just got to ride with that.”
The Essendon coach acknowledged his ruckman had “probably run the gauntlet” this season but he was adamant Hille should keep the physicality in his game.
“I certainly won’t be speaking to David about changing his football or changing his game,” Knights said.
“I think David and Patrick really had a great presence on the game in the second half [against St Kilda] from a ruck point of view, but also being able to kick goals … I won’t be sitting down with David and changing his football, because what we saw in the second half is what we want to see more of for the rest of the season.”
