Essendon are hopeful Joe Daniher will return to an AFL field later this season, with the club set to increase Daniher's training workload over the coming days.

Daniher's last game this season came in Round 7 against Hawthorn, and was subsequently ruled out with osteitis pubis following the Bombers' loss to the Hawks.

Essendon are hoping to get Daniher back to help with their push for the finals, and assistant coach Mark Harvey hopes that will be the case.

“He’s still a work in progress,” Harvey told SEN Breakfast.

“He’s going to do maybe at the end of this week some match simulation, so that will really tell us where he is at.

“From that I reckon we will get a good gauge as to whether he is going to play again or not this year.”

Essendon currently sit two wins outside the eight with three games to play, as they face off against St Kilda, Richmond and Port Adelaide to finish the home-and-away season.