The Roosters will make four changes to its line-up ahead of its round 12 Victorian Football League hit-out with Essendon at Eureka Stadium.

The biggest loss of the four is experienced forward Andrew Hooper, who is still battling tightness in his hamstring despite having the bye last week.

Lloyd Meek is still struggling from a corky sustained against Geelong. Brenton Payne will miss with a strained quad while Ben Simpson is out with a hamstring complaint.

The Roosters expect to welcome back Louis Herbert from his achilles injury in the coming weeks while the news is not as good for James Lukich with scans revealing a fracture in his foot – he is facing 4-6 weeks on the sidelines.

Into the side comes youngster Jarrod Korewha who will play as the 23^rd man. While Keegan Mellington, Nick Weightman, Xavier Vearing round out the inclusions.

Coach Marc Greig said the focus would be on starting well after the Bombers kicked three goals in the opening five minutes in its 38-point round 7 win.

While holding up defensively is always a key area given the Roosters have conceded 100 points in seven of its 10 matches.

“They’ve certainly got a more senior team than last time, but we’re going to try and start well...don’t let them skip away and get the jump on us, which is obviously our plan every week, but definitely this week we need to harp on it,” Greig said.

“We kicked 15 goals that day, which is our highest score...we did take a fair bit away in regards to how we moved the ball and the way we actually scored.

“Our biggest challenge has been being able to defend for longer and that will be the case again.”

The first bounce is at 1pm on Sunday.