As an injury crisis consumes the Bombers where can they turn at the mid-season draft?

The Bombers have gone from searching for a hidden gem to looking for anybody who can fill the breach ahead of Wednesday’s mid-season draft. Josh Barnes looks at their viable options.

No team has entered the mid-season draft as desperate as the Bombers, who have seen the earth shift beneath their feet and need to find ready-made key position players to survive the weeks before their round 16 bye.

Essendon holds four draft picks before Wednesday’s mid-year intake, and would set a record if it used all four.

The only club to take three players in the mid-year draft were the Lions of last year, picking up Will McLachlan, Luke Beecken and Darcy Craven, none of whom were needed on field in the march to the premiership.

Ben McKay is the latest Bomber big to go down. Picture: James Wiltshire/AFL Photos via Getty Images

But the Bombers have clearly hit unprecedented territory and need big bodies now, with Ben McKay (foot) the 10th key position player added to the injured list on Monday.

Essendon has asked the AFL about whether it could hand a debut to a player drafted on Wednesday during Thursday’s clash with the reigning premier Lions.

The Dons would need an exemption because players would be drafted after they name a team on Wednesday, and hence they would not be in the squad.

It is seen as highly unlikely a player would be drafted in to the team 23 hours after being drafted but the potential shows how serious the injury curse has become, with coach Brad Scott joking on Monday his club might target Queensland players so they could head straight to the Gabba.

It has been like Whack-A-Mole for the Bombers since summer signing Tom Edwards went down with a knee injury before round 4, with eight other players above 190cm going down in the seven weeks since.

The injury curse has spread across all lines, with rucks Sam Draper (Achilles) and Nick Bryan (knee) out for the year.

Key defenders Jordan Ridley (hamstring), Zach Reid (hamstring), McKay, and Lewis Hayes (knee) will watch this week from the stands.

Kyle Langford – who effectively plays as a full forward – is out with a quad injury and Edwards (knee) is gone from the front half.

And utilities Nik Cox (concussion) and Harry Jones (ankle) are both out, too.

Langford, Jones, Reid and Ridley are all eyeing a return around the round 16 bye.

Assuming Nate Caddy and Peter Wright – touch wood now Dons fans – stay healthy, the Bombers can hold the fort in the forward line.

So with four available picks – it is unlikely the Bombers will open a fifth by moving Cox to the inactive list – Essendon list boss Matt Rosa must be pouring through edits of rucks and key backs before Wednesday’s draft.

Rosa and his list management team were planning on a solid meeting on Monday to map out draft plans, and they would have put the order in for Uber Eats when McKay was ruled out in the morning, given the planning session was surely destined to go deep into the night.

If the Bombers use four picks they will have to fork out $220,000 if the players are on $55,000 six-month contracts and list spots will become tight, given the Dons hold four picks in the current top 27 of November’s national draft, as they hold Melbourne’s first-round and St Kilda’s second-round picks.

The Bombers have gone from searching for a hidden gem to looking for anybody who can fill the breach.

Brayden Crossley trained with the Bulldogs in pre-season. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

State league rucks Ollie Eastland (27, Claremont, WAFL), Lachlan Blakiston (26, East Fremantle, WAFL) and Brayden Crossley (26, Southport, VFL) are three quality rucks in the state league system and could play as soon as veteran Todd Golstein finally tires.

The Dons have plenty of options as stop-gaps in defence, even with hopes that injuries to Reid and McKay aren’t as serious as the rucks.

It’s expected the Bombers will look at drafting a ruck and two key defenders, with games to come against Carlton (Charlie Curnow, Harry McKay), Geelong (Jeremy Cameron, Shannon Neale) and Fremantle (Josh Treacy, Jye Amiss) before the bye.

The Bombers would be cautious about throwing a young tall to the wolves, with only draftee Kayle Gerreyn and ruck Vigo Visentini over 190cm and available to come into the team.

Will Hoare trained with the Dons AFL squad all summer and has been solid in defence for the VFL side so far this year.

The Dons recruiting team has scoured tape of Werribee bolter Ryan Eyers, a 199cm lockdown tall, who at age 22 has plenty of footy ahead of him.

Playing for Geelong’s VFL side Charlie McCartin has been closely watched, and ex-AFL Cat and Magpie Nathan Kreuger can play both ends.

Those four are ready to go.

Essendon has kept tabs on 198cm forward Archer May from Subiaco and Carlton VFL forward Liam McMahon is also 198cm and ready to play senior football.

The Dons have also been linked to West Perth midfielder Kane Bevan.

Originally published as As an injury crisis consumes the Bombers where can they turn at the mid-season draft?