Essendon captain Jobe Watson’s recovery from surgery to a ruptured rectus femoris tendon remains on track with the 29-year-old expected to commence jogging by the end of the week.

Watson met with surgeon Julian Feller earlier this week where he was given the positive news that he could begin jogging later in the week.

Club doctor Bruce Reid said Watson’s recovery was going as expected.

“Jobe is going very well but it is still healing time for him,” Club doctor Bruce Reid said.

 “With the rectus it is a power muscle so you can actually use it low grade and sub maximally pretty early to make sure we are using the quads.”

Reid said the midfielder would continue his normal recovery program for another month before being reassessed.

“He will progress according to a structure that is in place and the real reassess time is around seven or eight weeks when we have a really good look at the tendon.”

“That is when we can assess the tendon on scans and make decisions on how quickly or slowly we accelerate him depending on the healing.”

“At this stage he can still do a lot without stressing that tendon.”

Defender Mark Baguley is a chance to line up against Port Adelaide on Saturday night after overcoming back spasms.

Baguley missed Friday night’s loss to Geelong and will be put to the test on the track throughout the week to prove his fitness.

“Mark missed last week with a back spasm late in the week so we will see how he is out on the track and then have a crack tomorrow,” Reid said.

“Backs can be very touchy and you will remember that we missed Hurley three or four weeks ago and it settled down quickly.”

“We would like him (Baguley) to settle down because you don’t want any chronic backs but he is looking a lot better when we looked at him today.”

Michael Hibberd is the only injury concern out of the loss to the Cats after he pulled up with a sore ankle that will be monitored throughout the week.

“Hibbo is a little bit sore in the ankle, we will see how he is a little bit later in the week,” Reid said.

Leroy Jetta will be given until the end of the week to overcome a knock to his hip that saw him miss the majority of Sunday’s VFL draw with Frankston.

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