MELBOURNE coach Dean Bailey says Liam Jurrah and Colin Sylvia are likely to line up for Melbourne on Sunday against Essendon after the pair was named on an extended bench at selection.

Jurrah is expected to play his first game for the season after overcoming a shoulder injury, while Sylvia returns after missing the past three games with a toe complaint.

"Jurrah is probably more likely to play than not," Bailey said on Friday.

"We have still got a training run to go through tomorrow, so hopefully he can get through the development class today and some weights.

"It will give our forward line a different look with Col and Liam up there.

"The guys haven't played a lot of footy together for the whole year; this is LJ's first game and the forward line has been a pretty tough place, not only for Josh Mahoney the coach but with the numbers that have gone through it.

"It's been very unsettled for the majority of the year so with LJ and Col back in the team you'd like to think they're a chance to kick some goals for us."

Bailey said Jurrah had shown in his most recent VFL hit-out and at training over the past week that he could offer the side something with his inclusion, but he was mainly looking for a high work rate from the exciting forward.

His return is timely, given the Demons have struggled for goals recently with just an average of 10 a game scored over their past five starts.

"It's got to do with our ball movement ahead of the centre circle, the attacking forward part and going inside 50," Bailey said.

"Having two players in the forward line who are genuine goal-kickers and marking players that are dangerous gives us a different look and a more attacking look, which is what we're after."

Bailey said it would be remiss of the Demons to expect the Bombers' backline to be forgiving despite the absence of key posts Tayte Pears and Dustin Fletcher.

"I think if you take that attitude in, you're paying a fair degree of disrespect to the opposition," he said.

"With the two players I've mention and also [Jack] Watts and [Matthew] Bate up forward as well and a couple of small crumbing players, we look like we're going to kick more than 11 goals and I think we're going to have to kick more than that to win the game."

Bailey said the Demons' taper in form over recent weeks was due to a lack of poise in delivering the ball into the attacking arc.

However he says the Dees will match the Bombers for intensity, with Matthew Knights' men expected to come out hard after a week of speculation regarding the relationship between coach and players.

"I don't see why we're not on the front foot [as well], to be honest," he said.

"Our form hasn't been great. We were very disappointing in Adelaide and I thought our last quarter against the Saints was disappointing with the number of inside 50s we had.

"Both clubs have a lot to play for. For the physical part of it, we'll certainly be bringing our best attitude and our best approach at the start of the game because it's important for us to get off to a good start.

"We need to hunt them as much as everyone seems to think they're going to do to us."