Williams was traded from Hawthorn for pick 16 in last season’s NAB AFL Draft, which the Bombers got from St Kilda in return for Andrew Lovett, and is making a last-ditch effort to avoid season-ending surgery.
He has struggled all year with an ankle injury, and Essendon football manager Paul Hamilton said surgery was coming, at the end of the season or earlier.
"They’ve rested him, he’s had a couple of weeks off, so this is his final shot to see if we can get him up and going," he told the Essendon website.
"He will be available to play this week; the medical staff have said he’ll be all right to play and he trained yesterday.
"If he’s still having troubles and concerns with it in another week or two, we have to look at having surgery, but he’s almost definitely going to have to have surgery at the end of the year.
"If we feel that he’s really not coping with the injury, we’re just going to have to bite the bullet and say 'OK, that’s it for the year, get him in for surgery', and start looking into next pre-season.
"He can do things, but he’s in pain. They’re trying another technique with the physio at the moment; this (weekend) is sort of his last shot at it, really."
Monfries, who injured his hamstring in the side's round-11 loss to the Sydney Swans at the SCG, would be a welcome addition to the Bombers forward line.
Hamilton said the 23-year-old had overcome a slight hitch last week and was now ready to go.
"He was really very close last week, and he’ll play this week," Hamilton said.
"He trained in our main session yesterday, got through that fine and feels good today, so we’re expecting him to play."
