Essendon's selectors will have a luxury of riches ahead of Friday night's blockbuster against Geelong, with coach James Hird declaring six stars are "certainties" to be available.



Hird is also "very hopeful" that midfielder Brent Stanton would overcome a groin problem sustained early in the Bombers' unexpectedly hard-fought win over Greater Western Sydney at Etihad Stadium on Saturday.



The Bombers have the rare option of bringing back Michael Hurley (ankle), Jake Carlisle (ankle), Dustin Fletcher (groin), Dyson Heppell (groin), Patrick Ryder (suspension) and Jason Winderlich (rested).



"Whether they all play is a matter for (selectors)," Hird said. "Our talls seem to be playing very well at the moment.



"We've got a really good squad, a really fit squad, and we've got guys playing good football. We'll have a challenge to pick a team, and there will be some guys who will miss out and be unlucky, but we'll assess that as the week goes on."



The Bombers coach said Stanton had a "tight groin" after an opponent fell on him as he kicked across his body in the first term.



Hird said club medical staff believed the injury to be simply "a knock" rather than a strain so they gave the all-clear for Stanton to play on.



However, he was unable to run at full pace and was substituted out of the game soon after half-time.



"They think it's a knock, but we'll go and have scans in the next 24 hours and find out," the coach said.



Hird described Geelong as "the benchmark" of the AFL, saying the Cats are "playing better than anyone else in the competition at the moment" with "their ball movement, their ability to win the ball, use their numbers, find (free men and) defend".



He knows his side will need to improve considerably on its effort against the Giants, who they trailed by 28 points early in the third term before storming to a 39-point victory.



Hird said that early in the game the Bombers were sluggish and lacked the necessary appetite for the contest.



He also suggested hard training sessions on Tuesday and Thursday might have had an impact on their lax first-half.



"(In) the first quarter we didn’t win the contested ball, we were getting beaten around the stoppages and we weren't defending," he said. "I think our appetite for the game early on wasn't as it should have been, and the Giants took advantage of that.



"That appetite for absolute professionalism and competitive instinct has to be there all the time … the good part about it is we've won by 39 points, and we turned a game around that wasn't going well for us, whereas last year we weren't able to do that."



Asked if the players were distracted by the ongoing ASADA investigation, Hird said: "We're 6-0. Essendon Football Club's only been 6-0 once in the last 30 years I know of. I'd say they'd be a little bit distracted, obviously, but the football they’re playing is very impressive, so they’re handling that stress and that pressure very well."



ASADA will start interviewing Essendon players in coming days, but Hird welcomed it as "another step towards ending this process, which we're all obviously very keen to get to the end of".



"I know you guys want some answers, I know we want some answers … but we've got to go through the process. And we're hoping that finishes sooner rather than later.



"We can’t control what other people think. We are really looking forward to the time this finishes and we can talk."

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