Essendon football operations manager, Paul Hamilton, says Mark McVeigh has suffered a low level strain in his right ankle and will miss between two and four weeks.

He said McVeigh had scans this morning and described the results as ""good news"" because he might be available for Round 1 of the season.

""He has a ligament strain to his tibia fibula which is a weight bearing joint so what that means is it a little bit unpredictable on how long he will be out,"" Hamilton said.

""It depends on how he reacts once we put him on his feet and he gets moving on it. There is a reasonable chance he will be right for Round 1 so that is the good news from our point of view.

""He won't be on his feet for the next seven days. Early next week he will see if he can start walking and running.""

 
Hamilton said the injury was to the same joint as Andrew Welsh recently broke and McVeigh had been concerned at the time.
 
""He was thinking the worst and being pessimistic initially but he is quite positive now,"" he said.

""It's not an ideal preparation for him but he has a good fitness base .. we don't think it is going to be a massive problem for him.""

Hamilton also said that Brent Stanton was in contention to return to the side for Friday night's NAB Cup semi-final against Collingwood.