Essendon champion Matthew Lloyd has urged the club to pursue out-of-contract star Jeremy Cameron as insurance for Joe Daniher.
Also off-contract at the end of the season, Daniher has not played since Round 9 of last year due to ongoing groin injuries and remains without a return timetable as clubs returned to training on Monday.
The 26-year old made just 11 senior appearances in 2018 and 2019 and sensationally requested a trade to the Sydney Swans at the end of last season.
Lloyd revealed on Channel 9โs Footy Classified on Wednesday night that Daniher suffered another setback in the past week.
And with the injured Bomber's future up in the air, he believes 2019 Coleman medallist Cameron shapes as the ideal replacement.
โI agreed with Essendon keeping him because after Joe Daniher heโs far and away better than the next,โ Lloyd toldย Footy Classified.
โBut what itโs given Essendon, even if he doesnโt play, it gives them 12 months, if Joe wants to leave, to land a big fish.
โI think now theyโve got 12 months and they should probably be in at blokes already โฆ Essendon should be going hard and not banking on Joe being there next year.
โ(Jeremy) Cameron might be your starting point. If itโs not Jeremy Cameron, well Plan B and Plan C โฆ Thatโs where you start and you work down from there.โ
Lloyd saw scary potential in Daniher while working at Essendon in a mentoring role under James Hird, but admitted he must work harder to get back to full health.
โIโve watched him and I got to do a year with โHirdyโ (James Hird). Heโs unstoppable, no Essendon defender could go with him in the air, at ground level โ heโs got absolutely everything, he said.
โI agree with Brendon (Goddard) heโs got to work harder at times, but Iโve seen worse.โ
