First year Essendon player Alex Morgan will be sidelined for the next two to three weeks with a hamstring injury.

The former Oakleigh Charger has endured a stop-start season due to persistent problems with his hamstring.

Morgan suffered a serious hamstring injury during his time in the TAC Cup last season.

After landing at the Bombers with the 29^th pick in last year’s National Draft, Morgan steadily built his fitness throughout the pre-season and featured in the NAB Challenge. 

But when some warning signs emerged he was taken out of the main training program and given a specialised schedule early in the home and away season.

He returned through the VFL and had played six games this season before the latest setback.

“Alex has got another issue with his hamstring that’s going to take him another two or three weeks to get over,” High Performance Manager Justin Crow said.

“We really feel for Alex – he keeps doing all of the right things.

“We’re going to keep looking for ways to build his robustness and get him through longer stretches of games without hurting himself.”

Craig Bird was set to be rested from the senior side last week.

He was named as an emergency but some quad tightness late in the week saw him taken out of the squad altogether.

But the premiership player is back in training and set to be available for Sunday’s match against Adelaide.

“Craig was going to be the carry over emergency, he got some tightness in his quad in our last session of the week,” Crow said.

“We didn’t really feel that was the time to test him, or push him along.

“He’s come up really great, he’s kicking yesterday and today with no problems and he’ll train this week and be available.”

Joe Daniher will also be available despite a heavy knock to his mouth early in the game against Brisbane.

“Joe ended up playing most of the game with two loose front teeth which is a really good effort,” Crow said.

“He saw the dentist that night, got some dental work – they’ve been wired up.

“We expect Joe to train this week and play.”

Daniher finished the match against the Lions with four goals.