Essendon defender Michael Hibberd is on track to line up in the club’s season opener against North Melbourne next week as he continues his recovery from a hamstring problem.

Hibberd sustained the injury three weeks ago during a NAB Challenge match against Port Adelaide.

Club doctor Bruce Reid said a final decision would be made next week on Hibberd’s availability for the Round 1 clash.

“Michael would have to play at three and a half weeks (since the injury) which is reasonable for a grade one minor hamstring,” Reid said.

“We won’t make a decision on him until he ticks off top end speed and his testing next week but so far he is on track and is a fair chance of playing.”

Reid said the club was likely to take a more cautious approach with forward Jason Winderlich who also injured his hamstring in the same match.

“Jason has a very bad history of hamstrings on his left side but this time he only has a minor one on his right side,” Reid said.

“He has only had one problem on that hamstring in 2007 so he could get up but we will probably take a more conservative approach even though he is on track.”

Nick Kommer (knee), Tom Bellchambers (ankle), Lauchlan Dalgleish (achilies) and Will Hams (hip) are all set to miss the start of the season after an injury interrupted pre-season campaign.

The club is continuing to monitor Kommer’s progress as he completes rehabilitation from a patella tendon injury.

“He has a patella tendon injury and they are a bit of a slow injury,” Reid said.

“It is a bit disappointing because he isn’t back into full training yet so he is still a few weeks away.”

The progress of key big man Tom Bellchambers has pleased the club’s medical staff as he recovers from ankle surgery.

Bellchambers remains on track to return for the club’s blockbuster ANZAC Day match against Collingwood in Round 6.

“Tom is doing very well. We were always aiming for Round 5 or 6 comeback for him, and he is certainly on track for that,” Reid said.

“He is definitely not behind that but we won’t make any rash predictions as he is just starting to run and do things at seven weeks that we are expecting him to do.”

Reid confirmed Dalgleish and Hams would unavailable for the start of the season, as the pair continue their recoveries from pre-season injuries.

“Lauchie has had an achilles tendon injury which is incredibly disappointing for him because he was working so hard.”

“He has missed a fair block of training but is now back doing good running sessions.

 “Will is doing well too, he had an injury to his muscle running across the hip and we had to wait for that to settle down.

“He is now back running, but he also missed a fair bit of the pre-season so we would expect him to hopefully be back within a month.”