Essendon midfielder Brent Stanton says the Bombers have sufficient depth to cover for the short-term loss of key AFL forwards Michael Hurley and Stewart Crameri.
Hurley broke down with a left hamstring injury in Saturday night’s 71-point loss to St Kilda at Etihad Stadium, while Crameri has another week of a two-game ban left to serve.
Ruck/forward Tom Bellchambers and former No.2 draft pick Scott Gumbleton, who hasn’t played a senior game this year, are in line for promotion for Saturday’s round-16 clash with 15th-placed Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium.
Stanton said the Bombers were waiting on scan results on Hurley, who has kicked 12 goals in Essendon’s past three matches.
Hurley missed three matches earlier this season with a right hamstring problem and also had an injury-interrupted pre-season.
“From what I heard (of Hurley’s injury) on the weekend, it’s very minor,” Stanton told reporters on Monday.
“It’s always disappointing to lose key players like that with Stu Crameri last week and now ‘Hurls’.
“You get fatigued and unfortunately soft-tissue injuries happen all over the AFL.
“We just have to deal with that and keep moving on.
“Tom Bellchambers could go forward or even Scott Gumbleton.
“It’s a hard decision to make but we’re pretty fortunate that we have a few tall guys to come into the side.”
The Bombers have slipped two places to sixth following their third loss in their past five games, although with three victories interstate already this year, Essendon’s confidence will be high against Port.
“We played them earlier on in the year and they really took it to us inside the contest. We’ve got to take care of that again,” Stanton said of Essendon’s 25-point win in round two at Etihad Stadium.
“Contested footy and our defensive side of our game is what we’re really going to base our game on this week.
“The confidence maybe is a little bit high as we have won three out of three this year (interstate against Gold Coast, Greater Western Sydney and Fremantle).
“But we’ve got to focus on just the the individual game.
“Whether we finish top four or top eight or out of the finals, we haven’t spoken about it.”
Essendon midfielder Heath Hocking will come under scrutiny on Monday from the AFL’s match-review panel following a clash with St Kilda’s Lenny Hayes on Saturday night.
