Essendon star Brendon Goddard looks likely to miss Saturday night’s clash against St. Kilda with a minor groin strain.

Goddard was subbed out of Sunday afternoon’s loss to Fremantle just after quarter time with the injury.

“Brendon strained his right adductor in the warm up and aggravated it during the first quarter,” club doctor Bruce Reid said.

“At this stage, he will miss one to two weeks.”

Paul Chapman (ankle), David Myers (illness) and Dustin Fletcher (soreness) are all expected to return to the team to take on St. Kilda at Etihad Stadium.

Patrick Ryder still needs to prove his fitness ahead of Saturday night’s match and is likely to undergo a fitness test later in the week.

“Paddy is a chance this week but at this stage he hasn’t ticked all the boxes so we will see what happens in the next few days,” Reid said.

In a boost to the club’s ruck stocks, Tom Bellchambers will make his return from ankle surgery through VFL side on Friday.

Bellchambers will lineup for the VFL Bombers in their Good Friday clash against Bendigo at Queen Elizabeth Oval.

“He is returning in the best case scenario, we always said Round 5 and he is at that stage this weekend,” Reid said.

“Tom has done an enormous amount of running but the last four weeks a lot of it has been controlled running.

Defender Tayte Pears is also expected to return after a week off with a sore achillies tendon.

Patrick Ambrose (quad) and Courtenay Dempsey (hamstring) are continuing to recover from their injuries with the pair expected to return to full training within the next two weeks.