AFL confirms Essendon top ups for pre-season
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Essendon will use 13 top-up players while the club awaits the verdicts from the AFL anti-doping tribunal.
Former St Kilda midfielder Clint Jones, ex-Adelaide player Jared Petrenko and James Polkinghorne (formerly Brisbane) are among them.
The contingent from Essendon’s VFL team includes Aaron Heppell, who is the younger brother of injured Essendon star Dyson.
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The league has released the list of players who are approved to play for Essendon after signing short-term contracts with the club.
The Bombers will play their first NAB Challenge match on Saturday against St Kilda in Morwell.
Essendon need the top ups because all 25 players who were on their list in 2012 are sitting out the pre-season.
This is to preserve the anonymity of the players who are facing anti-doping charges.
Those charged players are sitting out the pre-season to protect potential backdated suspensions if they are found guilty.
The tribunal is expected to hand down verdicts against 34 current and past Essendon players in the next few weeks.
The top-up players have either been at other AFL clubs or are from Essendon’s VFL team.
The players: Mitch Brown (previously Geelong), Mitch Clisby (Melbourne), Josh Freezer (Essendon VFL), Aaron Heppell (Essendon VFL), Clinton Jones (previously St Kilda), Anthony McDonald-Tipungwati (Essendon VFL), James Magner (previously Melbourne), Marcus Marigliani (Essendon VFL), Sam Michael (previously Brisbane), Jared Petrenko (previously Adelaide), James Polkinghorne (previously Brisbane), Jordan Schroder (previously Geelong Cats) and Sam Tagliabue (Essendon VFL).