MICHAEL Hurley will miss Essendon's next three games after scans confirmed the star forward suffered a minor hamstring strain to his left leg.

Hurley will miss games against Port Adelaide, Geelong and Hawthorn.

Hurley was subbed out after injuring his 'good' hamstring in Essendon's loss to St Kilda on Saturday night.

Earlier, Essendon's football manager, Paul Hamilton, told SEN radio Hurley did not carry an injury into the Saints game, saying he had been troubled by his opposite hamstring earlier this season.

"The hamstring that's now sore is the opposite one to the one that he's had problems with, so it is a completely new injury that's occurred on the day," Hamilton said.

Hamilton conceded Hurley had been constantly troubled by hamstring tightness and soreness recently, but said he was confident the key forward could overcome it.

"He's had some problems throughout the pre-season and wasn't able to do the sort of pre-season that you'd love to have," Hamilton said.

"If you get the full pre-season it prepares you that little bit better, so he hasn't had the perfect preparation coming in.

"But certainly the physical and medical staff are working on a number of things with him."

Hamilton said David Zaharakis, who has not played since Essendon's loss to Melbourne in round 10, was still "a few weeks away" from returning from a quadriceps strain.

But he said the midfielder had not re-torn his quadriceps during a training mishap last week, having merely experienced "a little bit of soreness".

"It's like two steps forward one step back, that's really what's happened there," Hamilton said.

"They've just had to revise the program a little bit and keep working forward from there."

Hamilton also said Kyle Reimers had not suffered concussion during the Bombers' loss to St Kilda, just "a whack to his eye".

With Stewart Crameri set to miss the Bombers' clash with Port Adelaide this Saturday through suspension and fellow key forward Hurley likely to join him, Hamilton said the injury-plagued Scott Gumbleton could be recalled to give Essendon a tall target in attack.

"He played reasonably well yesterday … he's now put a few games under his belt in the VFL so he's certainly one the coaching group will have a look at coming into this week," Hamilton said.

Nick Bowen is a reporter with AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter: AFL_Nick