The Bombers, who last season were arguably the hardest-hit club when it came to injuries, are again sweating on the availability on some of their regulars – this time before the first home and away game has been played in 2009.
With Brent Prismall, Kyle Reimers and Andrew Welsh certain to miss round one against the Power, assistant coach Paul Hamilton said Essendon were waiting on the fitness of up to four others would-be starters.
Scott Gumbleton, Mark McVeigh, David Myers and Henry Slattery are all in line for a starting spot should they overcome complaints.
Of most concern is Gumbleton, the luckless 20-year-old’s latest niggle coming in the form of another hamstring problem.
“He’s had some tightness in his hamstring; it’s back-related, his got some nerve irritation in his back that’s causing the tightness in his hamstring so it is a concern for us,” Hamilton said from Windy Hill on Tuesday morning.
“It is a day-by-day monitoring process. We are seeking some further medical reviews and we’ll just have to wait and see.
“He’s doing some training … we’re hoping that he can accelerate what he’s currently doing quickly but it’s something where we’re just going to have to wait and see.”
Hamilton said the promising forward hadn’t been ruled out and the key was to ensure he could train strongly before his coach picked him.
“We want to make sure he’s able to do some good work and get some good training sessions under his belt so that we can pick him with some confidence, that’s probably our main objective,” he said.
“Whether that’s round one, whether that’s round three, whenever it is, we want to make sure that we are doing that.”
Hamilton said McVeigh (ankle) and Slattery (ankle) were both “touch and go” for round one, with the pair almost certain to play in round two should they not get up for the first game of the year.
Myers is the most likely to make the trip to AAMI Stadium for the clash with Port Adelaide, with his ankle strain the least serious.
Reimers, meanwhile, is making good progress from a quad injury but the club is being cautious with their classy ball user.
“He’s training really well,” Hamilton said.
“We’re being conservative in the approach with Reimers. We’re saying two to three weeks to be sure … he’s confident he can get up before too long.”
Dream Team watch – Essendon’s Scott Gumbleton is rated a $86,600 forward in Toyota AFL Dream Team 2009.
