ESSENDON could be without emerging forward Scott Gumbleton for the rest of the season after he suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung in Friday night’s win over St Kilda.

Despite a heavy knock coming in the second quarter, the 22-year-old returned to the field and spent a few hours in hospital after the game with rib pain.

General manager of football operations Paul Hamilton said it was likely that Gumbleton’s breakout year was over.

The West Australian has played 17 games in 2010 after his first three years at Windy Hill were ruined by injury.

“There is a reasonable chance he will miss the remainder of the season because normally with these types of injuries you miss three to four weeks and we only have four weeks of the home and away season left,” Hamilton told Essendon’s website.

However, Hamilton said there was no issue with the forward being allowed to play out the game.

“He put his hand up to come back on the ground because he wanted to keep playing,” he said.

“He did a lot of work at half time with the club doctors to see if he would be OK.

“He felt fine and the doctors were happy with how he presented and we played him on because he was keen to go on.”

Meanwhile, captain Jobe Watson and small forward Alwyn Davey are expected to recover from their respective injuries in time to face Carlton next Friday night.

“Jobe should be okay. Every week he is copping a lot of knocks and last night we saw it again with knocks to the shins. He is able to get up over the course of the week and hopefully will again this week,” Hamilton said.

“Alwyn also copped a knock late in the game but we expect him to play too.”