ESSENDON'S mounting list of soft-tissue injuries is a concern, football manager Paul Hamilton has acknowledged.
But Hamilton told Melbourne radio station SEN on Monday morning that concern had been tempered by the fact none of those injuries were long-term, with Courtenay Dempsey, who injured his hamstring against Gold Coast on Saturday night, a chance to play against Carlton.
After a pre-season heavily focused on weight training, the Bombers have had six players suffer soft-tissue injuries this season: David Hille and Mark McVeigh (calves), and Nathan Lovett-Murray, David Myers, Jason Winderlich and Dempsey (hamstrings).
"It is a concern there's no doubt. It's round three and we do have a number of soft-tissue injuries," Hamilton said.
"It's something that we are certainly addressing and want to make sure we get on top of.
"The good news is that none of the injuries are long-term injuries, but we really need to make sure that we've got enough players to play on the park, particularly with our next 14 days or so."
Hamilton said Dempsey would have an MRI scan on his hamstring on Monday but stressed Essendon was confident he would be not sidelined long, if at all.
"It's not a bad one; we know if he has done any damage it's not bad," Hamilton said.
"There is a chance that it's only just a real minor thing and he could be available for this week. We're certain it's not any type of long-term injury."
But Hamilton said Essendon's injury list could affect the way it approached its four-day turnaround between the clash with Carlton and the following Wednesday's Anzac Day clash with Collingwood.
"We're a little bit handcuffed by the fact we're not going to have the availability of players that we'd like to have," Hamilton said.
"There had been some talk of resting certain players and swapping the group over a little bit and if you were confident enough that you had a large enough group of guys you could do that."
Regardless, Hamilton said Essendon's only focus after playing Carlton would be its players' recovery.
Nick Bowen is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter at @AFL_Nick