Essendon’s Jake Stringer only needs to ‘fit in’ when he makes his first AFL appearance of the season

Bombers coach Brad Scott isn’t putting any pressure on Jake Stringer to star in his first AFL appearance of the season.

Essendon’s Jake Stringer (right) is ready to make his first appearance of the AFL season. Picture: Daniel Pockett/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

Essendon coach Brad Scott has taken the pressure off Jake Stringer in his expected AFL return on Saturday, saying the star forward only had to “fit in” with his Bombers teammates rather than produce a dominant performance.

Having injured his hamstring in the pre-season, Stringer’s return to football came via the VFL last weekend.

Satisfied that Stringer is ready for top-flight duty, Scott will pick him for Saturday’s clash against fellow unbeaten team St Kilda at the MCG.

“We anticipate we’ll select him based on our main training session today,” Scott said on Thursday.

“He’s just got to come in and play the role that we’re asking him to.

“While it’s nice to have a player of Jake’s quality back in the side, we don’t expect him to do any more or any less than anyone else.

“Different people have different views on how he should be best played, but he’s just got to fit in with our personnel and the system that we want within our personnel.”

Jake Stringer (left) is set to make his first AFL appearance of the season. Picture: Daniel Pockett/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

However, that doesn’t mean Stringer won’t be encouraged to provide his customary “strength and power” to Essendon’s forward line as well as the Bombers’ midfield.

“He’s a real impact player,” Scott said.

“It still leaves freedom for him to play to his instincts and to his strengths.

“That’s what we’ve talked about all pre-season – we want him to play to his absolute strength, which is strength and power.”

While pleased with his side’s good start to the season, Scott said the Bombers had “a lot of work to do to get to where we want to be”.

“We’ve always talked about perspective,” Scott said.

“It’s a lot easier to reinforce what you’re doing when you’re getting results.

“It’s very difficult to reinforce principles when, on the surface at least, they’re not working on game day.

“We’re still far from where we want to be in all aspects of the game, so that should be exciting for our supporters to know that we’ve got huge scope as well.

“We’re going to have a huge test this week against a very good side in St Kilda.”