While recognising that the ruck duel will be crucial in Saturday's AFL clash against Carlton, Essendon will not rush David Hille back into the side.

Bombers coach James Hird said on Friday that Hille would play in the VFL following a hip injury he has struggled with over the past two weeks.

"David just needs a bit of time to get his body right," Hird said.

"He's obviously a very important player for us, but he's had a very interrupted pre-season, played one game and then missed two.

"He'll play in the reserves and he'll probably play 75 per cent game time.

"We want to be cautious with him and we've got another ruckman in really good form in Tom Bellchambers. You have to back your guys who are in form."

Bellchambers bagged 41 hit-outs in the Bombers' win over St Kilda last Sunday and will ruck with Paddy Ryder.

Carlton forward Jarrad Waite backed their ruckmen against Ryder and Bellchambers.

While the Bombers' pair have made a strong start to the season, Waite said Robbie Warnock and Shaun Hampson could match the Essendon big men.

"We think we've got better talent than them and the boys are definitely looking forward to the contest in the ruck," Waite said.

Essendon has decided on one change for the game at the MCG against their arch-rivals.

They will bring in Brent Prismall for Alwyn Davey, who becomes a victim of the substitute rule.

"It wasn't really Alwyn's fault," Hird said.

"Alwyn was subbed last week, and we felt with Nathan Lovett-Murray that after he was subbed two weeks in a row it probably didn't help him at the start when he played St Kilda in his first full game.

"Brent Prismall has deserved his game."

But Hird admitted it was a "very tight" call between Prismall and Kyle Reimers.

"Reimo, like Brent, has played very well in the reserves, but we thought we'd go with Brent's experience this week," he said.

Hird said Essendon would work hard to lock down the Blues and prevent a free-wheeling game developing.

"It's hard to say if the game will break open," he said.

"Their midfield is very talented and we're pretty keen to keep the game as close and tight as possible - that's the preference.

"The defensive side of the game is something all sides are working on. You look at the best sides in the competition over history and they've been the best defensive sides.

"We're not there yet, we've got probably the sixth best defence at the moment in terms of points kicked against us and we would like that to be better.

"I'm not sure where our best is or how we're playing compared to what our maximum is.

"I know we've improved from what we started out doing, our NAB Cup form was not too bad, but I think it has gone up since then."

Tall defender Simon White and forward Lachie Henderson will come into Carlton's side for the match.

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