Essendon will look to secure finals berth without livewire forward Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti

A return to the finals will be Essendon’s reward for beating Collingwood, and they’ll have to do it without one star.

Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti is dealing with personal issues Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Essendon coach Ben Rutten can’t put a timeline on a playing return for livewire forward Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti, who will miss again as the Bombers look to secure a return to the finals against Collingwood on Sunday.

McDonald-Tipungwuti is being managed through a personal situation and Rutten said the club was fully supporting the cult figure to get back to a position where he could play his best footy with the Bombers in post-season action.

Without elaborating on the specific circumstances, Rutten said he didn’t know when the 28-year-old, who played all 20 games for Essendon this season before missing last week’s win over the Gold Coast, would play again.

“It’s about Anthony’s wellbeing as a person and that comes first and foremost as it does with all our players. We will continue to manage him,” Rutten said on Friday.

“He’s going really well, he’s getting some really good training in, he’s enjoying his time at the club.

Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti won’t play against Collingwood. Picture: Michael Klein

“It’s not something we are going to have a running commentary on. We’re giving him absolute full support as we would any of our players. I am not sure when we will see him back.

“We all know and love what Anthony can do on the field for us. We just want to make sure he’s in the best possible condition to be able to do that.”

The Bombers have been the surprise packet of 2021, and, playing the last game of the round 23, could know their finals fate before Sunday’s MCG showdown with the Magpies.

Victory is the easiest course to the finals for the eighth-placed Bombers, but it might not be needed should both West Coast and Fremantle, equal on 10 wins, lose.

Rutten said the new experience would be a good one for a group of players he knew could be good but wasn’t sure when the season began how soon they could realise their potential.

“There are always different distraction throughout any week … and we understand that at this stage of the season there are different types of distractions. This is just another opportunity to be able to manage it, cope with it and play our best footy,” he said.

Essendon coach Ben Rutten wasn’t sure when the season began how soon his players could realise their potential. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

“That’s going to be the next little sign of maturity out of our group is to manage those scenarios.”

The Bombers, who were languishing in 15th position with a 2-6 record at round eight, won three in a row from round 9 and four of the last six games to now be on the verge of finals.

“I knew that this group had a lot of growth and improvement in them. We’ve designed a program to be able to extract the most out of them as quickly as we can. I didn’t know what that was going to be,” Rutten said.

Veteran Cale Hooker, who announced his retirement this week, remains in contention to play again “if the team needs him” after missing selection again.

Young star Harrison Jones is also back training after suffering a foot injury and could be ready for action in the finals. “

Originally published as Essendon will look to secure finals berth without livewire forward Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti