Essendon captain James Hird has been cleared of any serious health concerns after an ultrasound this afternoon revealed a small blood clot in his calf muscle had resolved itself. The clot - which formed following a knee to the calf against Richmond - was detected last Saturday afternoon and there was some concern that Hird would require medication and three weeks on the sidelines to rid himself of the clot. ""It is good news - I think I was due for some luck,"" Hird said.

Hird met with the specialist at around lunchtime and the results of his latest test became apparent just after 4.00pm. ""The ultrasound this afternoon has shown that the clot has resolved. I'll probably miss this week but should be right the following week,"" Hird said.

Earlier, Essendon Football Club doctor, Dr Bruce Reid, had explained to the media the nature of Hird's injury. ""What happened with James is that he got a knee in the calf on Saturday (Round 7 v Richmond) and by Wednesday he was feeling well and trained pretty well - he could train at three quarter pace,"" Dr Reid said. ""By Friday he started getting sore again and by Saturday he was really sore so we were worried about a deep vein thrombosis or a thrombosis. So on Sunday he had an ultrasound at Epworth and that showed a small blood clot.

""Now that blood clot was in the muscle vein, not in the deep vein where they are potentially dangerous. He is being reviewed by his specialist today because they tend to resolve fairly quickly. At the moment he is having a repeat test where they put dye in and check the blood clot and it may resolve quite quickly. He has not got the deep vein thrombosis of the major vein in his calf that is potentially very serious and requires morphine. It certainly was a blood clot in a vein but that is in the muscle and they usually resolve very quickly. Occasionally they extend but that is not the case with James.""