Essendon Next Generation Academy prospect Blake Justice is set to make his VFL debut for the Bombers on Sunday at Windy Hill, Zero Hanger can reveal.
Rotated out of Vic Metro's lineup for the final match of the Under-18s National Championships, Justice will instead line up against Coburg giving him a critical opportunity to show recruiters what he can do at senior level.
Justice has trained throughout pre-season and school holidays with the Bombers at the Hangar and is viewed as an athletic 191cm utility with high upside but has been kept to just four games so far this year due to injury – two for Calder Cannons and two for Vic Metro.
Essendon sits 12th on the 22-team VFL table and is playing eighth-placed Coburg.
Fellow club-tied prospects Isaac Kako and Hussien El Achkar also got the opportunity to play VFL in their top-aged year.
Meanwhile, Western Bulldogs Next Generation Academy prospect Khaled El Souki will play for Vic Metro after an ankle injury kept him out of the first three games; he replaces George Dimer who has suffered a minor quad strain.
Essendon father-son prospect Koby Bewick also enters the lineup after an injury-interrupted start to 2026.
Star bottom-ager Jake Miller is also set to be rotated out of the lineup for athletic Oakleigh forward Flynn Woolhouse after a starring contribution as the focal point of Vic Metro's forward line across the first three games.
As previously reported, Arki Butler (collarbone) and Max Downes (fibula) are also sidelined with injury.
