ARCHER May will make his debut for Essendon against Geelong at the MCG on Saturday, just three weeks after being selected in the Mid-Season Rookie Draft.

The Bombers will also unveil a 10th debutant for 2025 after picking ruckman Lachlan Blakiston – another player selected in the draft last month – to play in the annual Country Game.

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Essendon coach Brad Scott called both mature-age recruits on Thursday afternoon to let them know they were playing.

May and Blakiston played their first games for the Bombers' reserves at Windy Hill on Sunday and will now play in front of a crowd of up to 70,000 people at the MCG this weekend.

Essendon used pick No.6 to select the May at the end of last month, after the Victorian also attracted interest from North Melbourne and Collingwood.

The 198cm key forward grew up in Melbourne and played for Richmond in the VFL last year before making the move across to Perth to play in the WAFL this season for Subiaco.

The Sandringham Dragons product kicked 12.11 from six games for Subiaco to earn state selection for the WAFL against the SANFL just before the mid-season draft.

May made the decision to head to Western Australia last year to improve his draft chances after playing 13 games for the Tigers reserves, before Richmond drafted four key position players in November.

With Essendon currently without 11 players 190cm and above – four are out for the season – May will gets a chance to slot into the Bombers' forward line.

Blakiston was selected at pick No.13 in last month's draft after impressing for East Fremantle in the WAFL and played in defence in the VFL last week.

The 26-year-old will help shoulder the ruck load in a side that is without No.1 ruck Sam Draper and Nick Bryan for the rest of the season due to long-term injuries.

The Bombers will be forced to make at least one change ahead of Saturday, with Sam Durham accepting a two-game suspension for his hit on Carlton midfielder Adam Cerra on Sunday night.

Essendon has now picked 10 new faces across the first 14 rounds of the season, after Luamon Lual in round 13, who followed Isaac Kako, Tom Edwards, Saad El-Hawli, Archer Day-Wicks, Lewis Hayes, Angus Clarke and Zak Johnson.

The Bombers have exposed more new faces this season than any other club, as well as Jaxon Prior, who joined the club during the pre-season supplemental selection period after being delisted by Brisbane.

Essendon hasn't picked this many debutants in the same season since 1974, when Simon Madden played his first game in the red and black.