Essendon captain Jobe Watson will miss the next eight to ten weeks after scans revealed a torn tendon in his hip.

Watson will undergo surgery to repair a ruptured rectus femoris tendon suffered in Saturday night's 15-point win over Greater Western Sydney.

Club doctor Bruce Reid said scans revealed the tear was worse than initially thought.

“Jobe has suffered a tear to the rectus femoris tendon right where it is attached to the hip bone which is a very uncommon injury,” Reid said.

“The sooner you can sew the two ends back together, the better the healing will be, so he will go in for surgery in the next few days.

“We will not rush him through the recovery process, it is important that we do what is right for Jobe both in the short and long term.”

Watson said while he was disappointed, he was hopeful of making a return to the field before the end of the season.

“I think the timeframe is a bit irrelevant because I just want to make sure that the injury heals properly and make sure it is right,” Watson said.

“But it would be great to come back and if the team is playing finals then it would be wonderful to be part of it, but the priority is for the injury to heal first.”