ESSENDON best-and-fairest Peter Wright has thrown his support behind incumbent captain Dyson Heppell, saying he is the right man to continue in the job.

With new coach Brad Scott at the helm, there has been some speculation as to whether the time is right to transition to a new skipper following the 30-year-old Heppell's six years at the helm.

In December, Heppell himself said he wasn't "tied to the role", and is happy to either continue or step down if required.

But after Scott praised Heppell last week, Wright also threw his support behind the incumbent.

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"I think at the moment the way it stands, 'Hepp' is still our captain and I'd be super rapt if he wanted to continue on as captain," Wright said on Tuesday.

"He's been outstanding and he's a really quality person so I'm hoping he continues as captain. But if not, it'd be Zach (Merrett) and Andy (McGrath) and a number of other guys that need to step in and fill the void that he leaves."

Wright is the crucial lynchpin to the Bombers forward line and is nearly back to full health after he left the track with a calf injury three weeks ago, with his sights firmly set on upcoming practice matches.

"[I'm] going really well. I had that little bit of a scare, but that was a pretty clean scan, actually, and to this point I've just been building back up into full training," he said.

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"The last week I've done just about everything. I'll play in the (intra-club) match sim on Thursday, and moving forward into the match sims against Gold Coast and the Saints."

The return of fan favourite Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti after a premature and temporary retirement has been a sight for sore Bomber eyes, and his teammates are enjoying having the livewire forward back on the track.

"First thing is first with Tony, we wanted him to be enjoying his life and enjoying his footy," Wright said. "I feel like he's been able to do that.

"He's been really healthy the whole pre-season, I don't think he's really missed a training session, which is really important for him to build that fitness up.

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"Having him out there, he's always in good spirits, always smiling and seems to be enjoying his footy. So I'm really rapt for him for that and hopefully he can continue to build his fitness and push for selection."

The mercurial Jake Stringer has once again had an injury-interrupted pre-season, struggling with a number of minor issues over summer including groin and back complaints, and is currently on a modified training program.

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He was also involved in a minor scuffle with teammate Mason Redman at a fiery training session in January.

"Jake's clearly a really powerful player and really important for us. He's one of the most talented players I've played with, and he definitely just adds a lot to our forward mix and the team as a whole," Wright said.

"We want him fit and firing and I think he's coming off obviously a few little hiccups, but hopefully he gets a really clean run into the season."