Young defender Massimo D’Ambrosio will be given the rest of this week to be available for Essendon’s Sunday afternoon clash with Gold Coast.

D’Ambrosio was subbed off in the third quarter of Essendon’s win over Brisbane after suffering a corked left quad.

Head of high performance Sean Murphy said the 19-year-old will use Friday’s main session to prove his fitness.

“That quad cork is decent, so we’ll use the week to see how that pans out and assess his availability,” Murphy said.

“Every day it’s progressing and hopefully by the end of the week he’s up and training, but he’ll be a test this week.”

Second-year forward Archie Perkins will be unavailable for this week’s clash due to a calf injury.

Murphy said Perkins will attempt to target a return for round 19.

“Perko’s’ back up and now, he’s going through his progressions in that rehab program,” he said.

“We won’t see him this week, but all things will shape him up hopefully for next weekend.”

Utility James Stewart will return to playing this weekend after successfully overcoming a plantar fascia injury.

Murphy said barring any hiccups, the 28-year-old will line-up for Essendon’s VFL side.

‘Stuz’ has taken some good leaps in the last couple of weeks,” Murphy said.

“He’s now fully training this week and all things going really well, he’s got to get through main training later in the week and if he gets through that, he’ll be available to play in the VFL.”

Michael Hurley is edging closer to playing football for the first time in almost two seasons.

The veteran defender has been in full training and Murphy said all signs are ‘promising’ for a return.

“‘Hurls’ has had a really good month of training,” he said.

“He’s training loads have been at a high level and all things are looking really promising for him.”

Injury list - Round 18