Essendon are aiming to unlock Jake Stringer's strength and power game this AFL season, with the explosive forward now free of the groin soreness that troubled him last year.
Stringer has been managed over summer and sat out the Bombers' intra-club match this week because of a back issue.
But the 28-year-old is set to travel with an extended squad to Queensland for match simulation against Gold Coast on February 23.
New coach Brad Scott is excited by the prospect of benefiting from Stringer's match-winning capabilities as the Bombers attempt to climb the ladder.
"From my understanding, he played a fair bit of last year with groin soreness," Scott said at Essendon's community camp in Bendigo on Friday.
"I look at Jake Stringer and he is a strength-power athlete - one that, when coaching against him previously, you're worried about.
"I've always been concerned from an opposition perspective that it's Jake's power and impact in games that are his real weapon."
Scott wants Stringer to play to his strengths, primarily as a bullocking forward who is strong in traffic and capable of winning games off his own boot.
"For those who want him to be a marathon runner or an elite transitional player, I don't think that's what Jake's strength is," Scott said.
"But his strength is something that very few players in the competition have got.
"That will be our focus and we'll play him in a style that suits that."
Stringer played the last 11 games in 2022 after hamstring issues sidelined him during the first half of the season.
