Star small forward Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti will begin his return to professional football this weekend for Essendon's VFL team.
The VFL Bombers play the Casey Demons on Saturday afternoon, with McDonald-Tipungwuti expected to play limited minutes in his first footballing outing since Round 21 of last season.
The 28-year-old took a leave of absence from the Bombers early in February, and had been managing a calf injury to boot.
AFL.com's Cal Twomey reported that the Bomber had progressively built up his training loads over the last few weeks and had also been working on his conditioning.
The exciting forward punted an equal-career high 34 goals in 2021, but didn't feature in the finals series.
Forward
Disposals
Marks
Goals
Essendon's 2022 campaign has started poorly, with an 0-2 record compounded by superstar midfielder Zach Merrett's syndesmosis injury against the Lions while Nik Cox was also injured.
Former top-10 draft pick Zach Reid will also play against Casey, having made his return to football after a torrid rookie season replete with glandular fever and a back stress fracture before a foot injury delayed his 2022 pre-season.
