Essendon could regain Jake Stringer for its Dreamtime in Darwin match against Richmond on Saturday night.

The star forward has been sidelined since suffering a syndesmosis injury in the Bombers' win over Collingwood in round five.

That wait could end this weekend, with Thursday's main session to determine the 26-year-old's availability.

"Jake's making really good progress. He had a solid hitout on the weekend, running and football skills," head of medical services David Rundle said.

"He'll integrate with the main group this week. We'll monitor him closely during main skills, see how we moves and how he pulls up before making any decision on his availability to play (on Saturday night)."

While the Bombers had no major injury concerns out of Sunday's loss to St Kilda, first-year forward Ned Cahill suffered a quad strain in the reserves' scratch match against the Bulldogs on Saturday.

Rundle said he expected the 19-year-old to return within a month.

"Ned suffered a quadricep injury in the match simulation. An MRI has shown us it's only a minor quad strain, so it will probably be a three to four-week recovery," he said.

"We're going to take a fairly conservative approach with him, but he should be up and running by the end of the week."

The club has all but ruled out Cale Hooker and Orazio Fantasia for the match against Richmond, with the pair in the frame to return from calf injuries against Hawthorn next week.

"Cale's making steady progress. He won't play this week, but provided all goes well, he should available to play against Hawthorn," Rundle said.

"Orazio had a somewhat slower-than-expected start to his rehabilitation. He's up and going really well at the moment. We don't think he'll play this week, but we'll monitor him closely over the next week or so and see where's he at."

Joe Daniher (calf/groin) continues to take positive steps after rejoining full training, while fellow forward Jayden Laverde (syndesmosis) will recommence running this week after undergoing surgery.

"Joe's tracking really well. We're really pleased with his progress. He's training fully with the group, and we'll continue to monitor him closely," Rundle said.

"Jayden's making excellent progress. He's three weeks post-ankle syndesmosis stabilisation surgery. He's walking freely out of the boot, he's got good ankle range, good strength and we expect he'll be running on the anti-gravity treadmill later in the week."

INJURY LIST: RD 13