Emerging Essendon defender Jordan Ridley has been placed on the long term injury list.

The 18 year old experienced some discomfort during training last week and could spend up to 12 weeks on the sidelines with a back problem.

“Jordan Ridley had some back pain last week, obviously given his age we were pretty keen to find out what was going on,” High Performance Manager Justin Crow said.

“Unfortunately Jordan has a partial stress fracture in his back, which in one sense gives us a chance to let it heal because it hasn’t broken through, so we’re going to take that opportunity.

“He’s going to have six to eight weeks off running and then build back up into the season. 

“It’s normally between two and four weeks [after the initial six to eight weeks] to build up to play.

“The good news for Jordan is he really only needs to avoid impact – which means running… so he’ll be able to do a lot of weights over the next couple of months.”

Ridley was the Bombers second pick (number 22 overall) in last year’s National Draft. 

He gathered ten disposals in his first taste of the JLT Community Series against Gold Coast last month.

Placing Ridley on the long term injury list allows the Club to promote a rookie who can then be selected in the senior side.

No rookie has been upgraded at this point.