He has been recruited despite not playing since injuring an ankle in the Ballarat Football League’s clash with Western Region in the AFL Victoria Community Championships on May 21.

Hind was the BFL’s best player in a performance which caught the eye of the Bombers.

East Point senior coach Glenn Wilkins said Essendon’s interest had developed on the back of that game.

Hind, who joined the Kangaroos from Clunes in the CHFL this season, is still undergoing rehabilitation for the ankle injury – receiving some treatment at Essendon.

Wilkins said Hind, who had been acting as senior match-day runner, would hopefully be available to play for East after next week’s bye.

While East Point is looking to firm up sixth position and finals berth against Darley at the Eastern Oval on Saturday, North Ballarat City is determined to improve its standing in the top six against Sunbury at Eureka Stadium.

Coach Jordyn Burke said this was a huge game with City locked in a four-way battle for second and the double chance in the first week of the finals.

“It’s our biggest game so far. There’s a fair big hinging on it.”

He said this was the type of match-up it needed to win if it was to show it was a genuine premiership contender – especially given North had come up short in its latest big tests.

Since winning its opening three games against East Point, Redan and Sebastopol, North Ballarat has not defeated anyone above the bottom four. This has included losses to Lake Wendouree, Darley and Bacchus Marsh.

It is still feeling the pain of the defeat to the Cobras at Eureka Stadium. 

“It was pretty disappointing,” Burke said. “We haven’t been stepping up to the plate. It’s all about embracing the challenges if you’re going to be contender.”

The match is equally important for fourth-placed Sunbury, which has lost its past two outings to Lake Wendouree and East Point – although Horwood vouches that the Lions lost the game against the Kangaroos rather than East Point winning it.

“”We didn’t bring our best football. It came down to so poor decision-making and poor kicking (2.12 after leading by two goals at half-time),” Horwood said.

AFL GOLDFIELDS meets AFL Barwon for the junior challenge, the Bob Davis Trophy, at Northern Oval No.2 and Wendouree Reserve on Sunday.

Goldfields is made up of players from the  Ballarat, Riddell District, Maryborough and Castlemaine District, and Central Highlands leagues.