ESSENDON will take a cautious approach with first-round draftee Elliott Kavanagh, who has been sidelined early in the season with leg soreness.

The 18-year-old missed a large chunk of last year with a serious hamstring injury, but was able to get through his first pre-season at the club unscathed, playing in the first round of the NAB Cup and several practice games.

But he has missed the opening two rounds of Bendigo's VFL season with the leg complaint unrelated to his hamstring history.

"He's got very, very minor muscle soreness, so it's nothing we're overly concerned with," Essendon football manager Paul Hamilton told AFL.com.au.

"The thing with Elliott, because of his injury history from last year, we've been really conservative with him.

"Other players you might push ahead with, but with him if there's any sign of soreness we just want to make sure he's 100 per cent right before we play him. It has nothing to do with his hamstring."

The Bombers picked the classy and quick midfielder with selection 19 in last year's NAB AFL Draft, but Hamilton said the club was in no rush for him to play senior football.

"We were always going to take a conservative approach with him this year,  and if he was probably a more seasoned player he'd be playing (with the soreness)," he said.

"We're not taking any risks at all."

It is expected he will return within the next two weeks, with Kavanagh saying on Saturday at a pre-game function that he hopes to play this week.

Although Kavanagh has avoided any repeat problems with his hamstring, the club has experienced a recent spate of strains.

Jason Winderlich, David Myers, Nathan Lovett-Murray and Alex Browne are all unavailable for selection due to hamstring strains of differing severity, while rookies Anthony Long and Hal Hunter continue to be put through tightly managed programs due to hamstring-affected backgrounds.

Hamilton said the club would review what might have caused the bad run, but noted that Essendon looked into the reasons behind every injury it received.

Callum Twomey is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter at @AFL_CalTwomey.