JOE DANIHER has refused to blame his groin injury for his poor start to this season, admitting he "couldn't get a kick" in the opening seven rounds.

Daniher is set to miss at least the next month after the club discovered the onset of osteitis pubis following last week's loss to Hawthorn.

The star goalkicker, who won the Bombers' best and fairest last season and made the All Australian team for the first time, managed just eight goals in the first seven rounds this year. But he said his lean run of form should not be attributed to injury.

"I couldn't get a kick, and I think all you guys knew that," Daniher told reporters on Wednesday at the Bombers' Tullamarine base.

"There's no blame at all. Footy's a tough industry and we're not performing the way we want to perform. I, as an individual, was not performing the way I wanted to perform and we're looking to turn our form around against Carlton this weekend and looking forward to the boys doing that." 

INJURY LIST: How are your club's stocks ahead of R8?

As the spearhead of Essendon's attack and a key player in its hopes to return to the finals and go beyond their elimination final loss last year, Daniher sits as one of the most important players to the club's fortunes.

As such, his surprising start to this year – after seven rounds last year he had booted 16 goals from 32 scoring shots – has drawn plenty of criticism and analysis. The 24-year-old, who finished with 65 goals, said it had not concerned him, even though he had been playing through injury. 

"That's part of footy, you sign up for that as an AFL player. I've got a strong group of coaches around me, a strong group of people who influence the way I think about the game, and I'm really confident in the networks I've got to lean on," he said.

BOMBING OUT: The numbers behind Dons' horror third terms

Daniher first felt the groin injury flare up against Fremantle in round two, and the Bombers had carefully managed him through weeks of training to ensure he didn't miss any games. But following last week's 23-point defeat to the Hawks, the injury worsened and has required a period on the sidelines.

"After the weekend I felt quite sore, so I had a chat to the doctors and went and had a scan a couple of days post-game. [We] had a look at that and decided the best process was to do what we're doing now, which is taking a break from playing, continue to train and train hard, and strengthen up that area of my body," Daniher said. 

Daniher played in Essendon's three games over 11 days – against Collingwood, Melbourne and then the Hawks – but coach John Worsfold said the club was confident that wasn't a factor in his injury problem deepening. 

"We measured every player after each game. There's checks and balances we go through with every player so Joe was no different to anyone else in that regard," he said.

Worsfold said the club wouldn't rush Daniher's return, with the key forward set to – at least – miss clashes with the Blues, Geelong, Greater Western Sydney, Richmond and the Brisbane Lions. The Bombers then have the bye in round 13 before returning to Optus Stadium on June 21 to tackle West Coast.

The Bombers could redeploy Cale Hooker to an attacking post in Daniher's absence, or perhaps even use Michael Hurley closer to goal, while Shaun McKernan has been playing well at VFL level and will be in contention for a recall.

"We need to rethink the personnel up there without Joey," he said.

"Shaun McKernan has been in really good form, we're really pleased with how he's going, but we'll have a look at Orazio Fantasia being available and what that means to the line-up as well. We'll assess how we want to attack this game." 

Fantasia played a half in last week's VFL game and if he gets through training is likely to come back into the side after a groin injury.