Essendon defender Patrick Ambrose will await the opinion of specialists after suffering a foot injury in the club’s scratch match against Carlton on Saturday.
Head of medical services David Rundle said the 28-year-old sustained a Lisfranc injury - a sprain of the mid-foot.
“Pat got his foot caught in a contest and has sustained a Lisfranc injury which is essentially a sprain of the mid-foot,” Rundle said.
“He’s currently in a boot and on crutches and we have more scans to investigate this further. We’ll get the opinions of specialists, so the prognosis remains unknown but it's likely he’ll have a period of unloading to allow those ligaments to heal.”
After being a late withdrawal from the Bombers’ senior clash with Carlton, utility Tom Cutler is likely to be sidelined for the next two to three weeks after suffering a low-grade calf strain.
“Tom sustained a low-grade calf strain in our session on Thursday and was deemed unfit to play on Saturday night,” Rundle said.
“He’s just commenced the early stages of his calf rehab and will potentially run towards the end of the week, or early next week.”
Rundle also provided an update on Essendon skipper Dyson Heppell, who last week underwent surgery for an ankle injury.
“Dyson is coming along really well. He’s wearing a boot and can partially weight-bear in the boot, and he’s able to remove the boot to do some gentle range of motion exercises,” he said.
“He will be wearing that boot for another three weeks or so before he progresses from there.”
Meanwhile, Rundle said Joe Daniher (groin) and Kobe Mutch (wrist) were making positive progress in their respective rehabilitation programs.
“Joe is making steady progress. He’s building up his running loads and integrating back into more football training now. He’ll be ready when he and Joe himself feel he is ready to play week in and week out,” he said.
“Kobe is going along well too. He’s coming up to two weeks since his surgery. He’ll still be in the wrist splint for another couple of weeks and has commenced light ball handling work while building up his running loads and should be able to integrate into non-contact training in the next week or so.”
Bombers youngster Harrison Jones was also increasing his running loads as he recovers from a stress fracture in his foot.
“Harrison is coming along well too. He’s progressed from running on the Alter-G to running over ground now and he’s on a three- to four-week build of progressions before he integrates back into training,” Rundle said.
INJURY LIST: RD 5
PLAYER | INJURY | DURATION |
Noah Gown | Foot | 1 week |
Tom Cutler | Calf | 2-3 weeks |
Kobe Mutch | Wrist | 2-3 weeks |
Patrick Ambrose | Foot | TBC |
Lachlan Johnson | Knee | Indefinite |
Joe Daniher | Groin | Indefinite |
Dyson Heppell | Ankle | Indefinite |
Harrison Jones | Foot | Indefinite |
Tom Hird | Foot | Indefinite |