Essendon coach Brad Scott will have his hands full at the selection committee this week as the club prepares for its bout with Geelong on Saturday night for the annual Country Game.
Veteran ruckman Todd Goldstein was a late out for the win against West Coast and was replaced by young forward Nate Caddy, who impressed in his second AFL outing.
Naming five forwards 190cm and above (Peter Wright, Kyle Langford, Harrison Jones, Jake Stringer and Caddy), Scott believes that the weekly prospect of deciding the best "structure" is a "good problem" for the Bombers to have.
Heading into Round 16, Goldstein appears fresh and available but could be forced to sit on the sidelines given the form of Sam Draper and the flurry of tall forwards.
Scott confirmed that it would be unlikely that the 327-gamer would feature at VFL level while Caddy is well within the mix to keep his spot.
"He's an exciting talent," Scott said on Wednesday.
"We've got a lot of (tall) forwards and how we structure that is still a bit undecided but I'd much rather have that problem than searching for a second or third forward.
"He (Caddy) did all he could... we'd like to play him. If he doesn't play, it won't be through lack of performance or lack of effort. It'll just be what our structure looks like week to week.
"But he'll play a big part in the second half of the year for sure and obviously our future going forward."
Despite the uncertainty surrounding Geelong's ruck call, which trialled defender Sam De Koning in place of Rhys Stanley, Mark Blicavs and Toby Conway against Carlton, the Bombers coach said he's firmly worried about what he'll do on Saturday.
"I'm not sure if it's a threat or an opportunity," Scott added as he prepares to go against his brother Chris.
"While they're not necessarily settled, it does present some planning challenges for us.
"We'll do all our work on that but will come back to what we think suits us the best against the potential make-up that they throw at us."
Essendon will also need to prepare to face Cats skipper Patrick Dangerfield, who was acquitted of his one-game suspension at the Tribunal on Tuesday.
Dangerfield was sanctioned for a dangerous tackle on Sam Walsh after the Blues midfielder's head hit the ground whilst both his arms were pinned.
Geelong argued that the 2016 Brownlow medallist did everything in his power to exercise his duty of care for Walsh, which is something Brad Scott thought at the time of the contest.
"I watched it live and thought he didn't have a case to answer for in the first place," Scott said.
"I tried to avoid the range of emotions... I just plan for him to be in and that's confirmed.
"The expectation that AFL prosecutors put on (that) you've got to release an arm I think is realistic.
"When a player who's got his arm pinned doesn't get slammed into the ground, or if he does there's a suspension that follows, that bit is really clear.
"There's a little bit of a challenge for players in between that, but I thought 'Danger' exercised the duty of care and tried to hold Walsh up."
