The Essendon leadership group has again decided to suspend Andrew Lovett for two matches after he missed a compulsory training session on Monday morning.

Lovett apologised for breaking team rules by not showing up to the early morning session and admitted he had been out ‘socialising’ on Sunday night.

“We expect all our players to meet club standards and missing this training session is not acceptable,” coach Matthew Knights said.

“Andrew is extremely important to this club and the leadership group wants him to make the most of his football career – we believe this two game suspension is the right course of action.”

Earlier this year Lovett was handed a club enforced suspension which saw him miss the Bombers pre-season games for again skipping a training session.