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HIRD AND HILLE CITED, ALESSIO SETBACK
Essendon captain James Hird will face the AFL tribunal tomorrow night after today being cited on video evidence for allegedly striking Brad Johnson of the Western Bulldogs in last weekend's Wizard Cup match at Colonial Stadium. Hird was reported by umpire Ray Kelsey following an incident during the second quarter of the round two match. Essendon ruckman David Hille will also front the tribunal tomorrow night after being charged with making contact with an umpire. And there was further bad news for the Bombers with big man Steven Alessio having suffered a setback as he tries to overcome an achilles injury.
Essendon captain James Hird will face the AFL tribunal tomorrow night after today being cited on video evidence for allegedly striking Brad Johnson of the Western Bulldogs in last weekend's Wizard Cup match at Colonial Stadium. Hird was reported by umpire Ray Kelsey following an incident during the second quarter of the round two match. Essendon ruckman David Hille will also front the tribunal tomorrow night after being charged with making contact with an umpire. And there was further bad news for the Bombers with big man Steven Alessio having suffered a setback as he tries to overcome an achilles injury.
Essendon football manager Matthew Drain said Alessio's injury meant he would face a race against time to be fit for the Essendon's round one clash with Geelong at the MCG on March 30th. ""We are confident he will be right for the first game but it hasn't responded as quickly as we would have liked over the past two weeks,"" Drain said. ""They are quite delicate injuries - particularly for a ruckman - and we don't want to rush him back.""
In other injury news, Danny Jacobs is still at least two weeks away from resuming as he battles to overcome a strained lateral ligament in his knee. Gary Moorcroft - who had floating bone removed from his elbow - is still a week away. On a positive note, Chris Heffernan (groin) and Cory McGrath (ankle) both got through last weekend's VFL match in good shape and will push for senior selection this weekend.
The Bombers have been bundled out of the Wizard Cup in straight sets after going down to the Western Bulldogs at Colonial Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Essendon lost by 28-points and now head to Fremantle this weekend for a meaningless final round of the Wizard Cup competition. A loss to the Dockers would see the Bombers replicate their pre-season competition form of last season when they failed to win a game. Essendon was without Steven Alessio, Paul Salmon, Justin Blumfield, Mark McVeigh, Chris Heffernan, Danny Jacobs and Damien Peverill on the weekend but that is of little comfort when you consider the Bulldogs were missing Nathan Brown, Scott West and Chris Grant - arguably their three best players. However Essendon assistant Mark Harvey said there were some positives to come out of the game.
