Essendon defender Alex Morgan has been cleared of injury despite failing to finish the VFL match against Sandringham on Saturday.

Morgan spent most of the second half on the bench with ice on his hamstring. 

The second year player has dealt with hamstring issues since suffering tendon damage while playing with the Oakleigh Chargers in the TAC Cup.

He felt tightness on Saturday, but scans have allayed fears of a hamstring strain.

“Alex felt some tightness in his hamstring towards the end of the game, so we iced him up,” High Performance Manager Justin Crow said.

“The good news for Alex is his scans are clear and his testing has been clear the last couple of days.

“So he doesn’t have a hamstring strain. 

“What does complicate things with Alex just a little bit is that he has an old injury from when he was a junior player around his tendon which has some scarring.

“We think at times that scarring may be influencing his nerve and he might be getting a strain sensation down his thigh. 

“We’re just going to keep working with Alex on that, we’re planning for him to train tomorrow and we’ll see how it goes from there.” 

Morgan remains in contention to play this week, while Ben Howlett, David Myers and Mason Redman are all set to make their return.

“It was good for the second week in a row to get through really with no major issues,” Crow said.

“We’ve got Ben Howlett available to return, he had a really good session on Saturday, with David Myers and Mason Redman.

“Those three players have all completed really good rehab skills sessions and will be putting their hand up to be available this weekend.”

Scans have confirmed Jordan Ridley is making progress in his recovery from a back injury.

The draftee suffered a partial stress fracture in his back.

He’ll commence running next week with a view to building up to a return to the field over the next four to six weeks.