Essendon's injury crisis has deepened, with key forward Jay Neagle to undergo season-ending ankle surgery.

Neagle fractured his ankle in last Saturday's loss to Richmond and will undergo surgery on Friday.

It's a bitter blow for the club after they had plans to further develop the 20-year-old as a future go-to target in attack.

Neagle, who showed his talent with three goals against West Coast in round 12, has been earmarked to play deep in the team's forward line with veteran Scott Lucas, while captain Matthew Lloyd had been moved further up the ground in a free-roaming role.

While Essendon are beset with an injury list the size of a hospital casualty ward, fullback Dustin Fletcher (ankle) and stopper Andrew Welsh (concussion) are expected to return for Saturday's clash with arch-rivals Collingwood at the MCG.

Utility Angus Monfries is also hopeful of a return, believing his injured ankle will come good by Saturday.

"The ankle is feeling pretty good," Monfries said.

"I iced it on Saturday night and throughout the week and I've been getting some physio on it so hopefully I'll do some straight line running on it today and then test it out a bit on Friday and hopefully I'll try and play this week.

"With limited numbers to choose from to get up this week would be great."

Team-mate Adam McPhee, who has been used in a variety of positions to cover for the club's long list of absentees that runs to 18, put a positive spin on the dire predicament at Windy Hill.

"It's not necessarily a worry for us, it's a good thing to allow those players to come on and get games when maybe they might not have if those players were playing," he said.

"We've been in the same position earlier in the year, and just showed the depth we had."

While the Bombers would like to have speedster Andrew Lovett available for selection given the number of injuries, McPhee said the club imposed-suspension after missing a compulsory training session was better for the player and the team in the long run.

With the 12th-placed Bombers out of the finals race, McPhee said his side was keen to finish off the season well and put a dent in Collingwood's aspirations of making the top four.

And he acknowledged the combination of Lucas and Lloyd, who did not play in the Anzac Day clash, would strengthen the team's chances of beating the Magpies.

"Last time we played them it was a very average performance by us, we lost by 73 points," McPhee said.

"We'd like to think we'd get a lot closer to them this week."

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