ESSENDON captain Jobe Watson is rated only an even-money chance to face the Bulldogs this weekend.

The 25-year-old's ankle is giving him problems, and a final decision on his availability will be made on Thursday.

Football manager Paul Hamilton said on Tuesday that the injury was accumulation of small events.

“He is still a chance to play at this stage but Jobe has had a lot of knocks to his lower leg over the past couple of weeks and we did see on the weekend that the injuries are starting to take their toll, and the main one is his ankle,” Hamilton told Essendon's official website.

“He has had a few knocks to his calf and a few contusions but at the moment his ankle is pretty sore and it is a six-day turn around, so whether he’s right or whether he’s not we probably won’t know until Thursday.

“He’s played every game this season, which is an outstanding effort in his first year as captain, and he’s been very stoic and gone about things in the right way."

In other injury news at Windy Hill, key forward Scott Gumbleton has started getting ready for 2011 by going under the knife.

“Given that Gumby (Gumbleton) is having a rest now due to his ribs, we got the doctor to give him a full check over and as it turns out he needs three separate operations,” Hamilton said.
 
“He has had two operations already - one was for his thumb and the other for his finger - the other one is an arthroscope on his knee which he will have this week.

“None of them are major problems - they’re just little clean-ups to get him right for the pre-season.”