PADDY Ryder has all but ruled himself out of facing Carlton this week, but is confident his ankle injury will only see him miss one game.
The Essendon ruckman rolled the ankle in last week's narrow loss to Hawthorn, and was subbed out of the game in the second half.
While scans revealed no major damage, Ryder says he is unlikely to be available for the Blues clash on Sunday.
"I'm most likely to miss this week. It's still pretty sore at the moment," he said.
"Hopefully I'll get everything right this week and be ready to tackle Freo [in round four]."
"I rolled over pretty badly on it and it's still pretty sore ... once I get up and running everything should be fine from there."
Ryder is still struggling to walk without pain, and the ankle remained swollen on Wednesday.
"We've got to try clear all that up, work hard with the physios to get it moving again, and we'll go from there," he said.
With Tom Bellchambers continuing his recovery from pre-season ankle surgery, the Bombers will be sweating on Ryder being available.
Rookie ruckman Fraser Thurlow, who featured for the club in the NAB Challenge, can be upgraded to the senior list to make his debut if required.
Young forwards Joe Daniher and Jake Carlisle shared ruck duties against Hawthorn with Ryder benched, and although they battled hard, senior Hawks Ben McEvoy and David Hale had the edge in one-on-one contests.
Ryder said that if Thurlow was playing at a good enough level he would encourage the Bombers to pick a pure ruckman.
While Ryder's injury was not as severe as initially thought, the news was not as good for teammate Courtenay Dempsey.
Dempsey, who had an interrupted pre-season and was still building up his fitness and conditioning, strained his hamstring playing in a VFL practice match on Saturday.
Scans confirmed he will miss a further three to four weeks with the injury.
Ryder was on hand as Essendon great and two-time premiership player Michael Long launched the 10-year anniversary of The Long Walk.
The Long Walk is a charity inspired by the 1993 Norm Smith medallist's walk to Canberra in 2004 to get the lives of indigenous people on the national agenda.
This year The Long Walk will again take place ahead of Essendon and Richmond's 'Dreamtime at the 'G' match in round 11, with several new initiatives.
On the morning of that game there will be the 'free well-being concert' at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, which will replace Federation Square as the starting point for the walk to the MCG later that evening.
"The Indigenous Round, Essendon and Richmond and the players and the coaches have played their part to make this a special event and occasion," Long said.
"And for The Long Walk to be a part of that … we couldn't ask for a better partner. All clubs have made a difference."
Ryder praised Long for his tireless effort in championing the cause of Australia's indigenous population.
"[I have] huge respect for him, the way he went about his footy and all the off-field stuff that he puts his work into," Ryder said. "It's just tremendous."
