ESSENDON coach Matthew Knights was glowing as he unveiled his three new debutants for Sunday’s clash with Port Adelaide but those rays of sunshine were tempered with news the club’s injury list was worsening.

Before training on Thursday, the Bombers paraded who they hope will be their next generation of stars with David Myers, Darcy Daniher and Jarrod Atkinson sitting alongside the coach at his weekly press conference.

But it was injury news on a couple of more experienced stars – and in particular a budding one – that has most disappointed those at Windy Hill.

Knights said veteran Dustin Fletcher and Jason Winderlich (groins) and Kyle Reimers (foot) would all miss this week’s match while Adam Ramanauskas (gastro) was also set to miss.

Damien Peverill has a fractured jaw and will miss three to five matches, but perhaps the biggest blow is the news surrounding Courtenay Dempsey.

Knights confirmed Dempsey has a stress fracture in his lower leg and would miss “between six or eight weeks”.

All this comes just a week after scans revealed livewire forward Alwyn Davey would require a full knee reconstruction.

But Knights, who is enduring a frustrating first year as coach, says he is rolling with the punches.

“Sure there are some casualties but as a coach we can’t do a lot about that,” he said.

“We can only look forward to playing Port Power with these three young men (the debutants) and the other guys that will come into the team.”

Knights said he did feel for Dempsey, who looked ready to start making his mark at the top level.

“It’s extremely frustrating for Courtenay. His form was starting to pick up and he was getting opportunities and to get struck down like that is really difficult.

“Courtenay’s certainly not feeling sorry for himself, he’s a really confident, brash young man and we’re going to give him a lot of support.

“It is frustrating because these guys do three, four, five months of solid pre-season to play football, and I get most disappointed that they just can’t play.”

The Bombers believe Dempsey could be something special and are just awaiting the time he gets an injury-free run to show his talent.

“We think Courtenay has got the game to be a big-time player,” Knights said.

“Our mind hasn’t changed on that. We realise one day he will get a run at it.”