JAMES Hird is confident Essendon will be primed to face the Sydney Swans in round one, despite the uncertainty about player availability until the AFL Anti-Doping Tribunal hands down its verdict on the club's supplements regime.
The 17 or 18 provisionally suspended players still on their list from the controversial 2012 supplements program will discover their fate on March 31.
None of those players have taken part in the NAB Challenge, which the Bombers finished on a high with a thrilling two-point win over Melbourne at Etihad Stadium on Friday night.
Dons snatch a thriller at the death
But Hird believed the tough training program implemented over the past month has adequately prepared them to take on the Swans, should they be cleared to play.
"Our other guys had a great session today. I think we had 16 or 17 guys train today and they were terrific," Hird said.
"We think they're ready to go round one. These guys (who played Melbourne) are ready to go round one.
"We have now 14 days to prepare for round one and we think we're going to pick the best side we possibly can and go to Sydney and try to win the game with whoever we have.
"We're pretty confident that will be our best side."
The Dons' recent high-profile recruits – including Adam Cooney, Paul Chapman and Brendon Goddard – have been able to find form in the NAB Challenge alongside an emerging batch of youngsters.
Hird said the exposure of the likes of Jason Ashby, Martin Gleeson and Lauchlan Dalgleish – and impressive first-gamer Jayden Laverde - had reaped some positives from the unprecedented situation.
"They've got a lot of confidence out of the last three weeks," Hird said.
"One of the few positives out of what's happened is that these guys are getting more games in different positions and more responsibility than they probably would have had in the past.
"They're developing and they're showing that they're ready to play AFL football."
Only four top-up players took the field against Melbourne and Hird said the 13 who had filled in over the NAB Challenge would continue training with the club until the Tribunal's verdict.
"They'll keep training until the 31st (of March). I think we have them for a week after that…then we wait and see what happens," Hird said.
"They will train with us. It's been a nice experience having them there, they're all terrific people and they've joined our club and I think they've been welcomed and they've added to our club."
The Bombers now have a four-day break and Hird said they would ramp up round one preparations for the Swans clash late next week.
"(We'll) treat the week before the Sydney game as a normal week, obviously with a big event in the middle of it," he said.
