Exciting forward Orazio Fantasia has suffered a minor setback to his pre-season after injuring his finger in a training drill.

Essendon Physical Performance Manager Justin Crow said the unfortunate injury occurred in an innocuous incident at The Hangar this week, but initial signs suggest it will not prove to be a significant hurdle for the star Bomber.

“At training Orazio got his little finger stuck in a jumper,” Crow said on Wednesday.

“We obviously had some concern about that, so we got it scanned. His tendon is intact, which is very good news.

“The slip around that tendon, which acts as a pulley, has been affected so you’ll see Orazio in a splint over the next couple of weeks.

“Then we’ll reassess the finger and see if he needs to continue in a splint beyond that.

“The good news, though, is that Orazio can keep running, kicking the ball and doing bits and pieces with the group that don’t involve tackling or that finger over the next couple of weeks.”

Crow says a number of Fantasia’s teammates have made good progress over the off-season in their recovery from long-term injuries.

Star forward Joe Daniher – who has been off the scene since succumbing to early onset of osteitis pubis in round seven this year – has continued to improve and is eyeing a return to training with his teammates post-Christmas.

“Joe is doing most of his work before Christmas separately to the main group, we’re building him up really gradually,” Crow said.

“The idea is that he gets a big foundation of running and work that we know will set his groins and his body up to have a good season.

“We’ll be training him accordingly and taking our time to make sure we get him right for the season.”

Fellow forward Josh Begley has looked sharp on the track as he continues to strengthen his knee following an ACL rupture on ANZAC Day this year.

“Josh Begley is now 27 weeks after his ACL injury. He’s building up high volumes of mostly straight-line training – he’s up around the nine or 10km session mark at the moment – we do that to get some foundation in.

“We’ll start layering in some change of direction and jumping and other functional movements over the next couple of months, and he’ll be looking to integrate with the group after Christmas.”

Crow said important intercepting defender Marty Gleeson is also “building up his volumes”, completing three running sessions a week in his recovery of a significant ankle injury in the side’s JLT Community Series clash with Geelong in March.

“With Marty’s ankle, we’re looking to get that very last bit out of the ankle in terms of its explosiveness, its ability to decelerate and absorb force.

“He’ll need to get that last few percent out of the ankle before we can put him back into full training.”

Tall pair Tom Bellchambers and Luke Lavender required off-season shoulder surgery and Crow says both are expected to return to full training following the team’s upcoming holiday break.

“Tom had that shoulder surgery, he’s been able to do good running in the off-season,” he said.

“He’s back doing full volumes with the group – normal training for him as a ruckman.

“We have to be careful of his contact and he’ll be progressing his contact up until Christmas.

“Luke Lavender as well has been able to get some work in over the off-season.

“He will also be building up his training volume and football-based training in the lead-in to Christmas and then both of those will be looking to get their full tick of approval for full contact after the Christmas break.”

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Mason Redman was the only other Bomber sent for post-season surgery and the utility is tracking well, already integrating back into the main training squad.

“Mason had the syndesmosis injury to his ankle and then he had that minor surgery on his knee.

“He’s progressing really well, he’s doing about half of his sessions with the group at the moment and half in the rehab group.

“He’ll be building up his high-change-of-direction, cutting movements and progressing gradually back into full training with the full group.”

Meanwhile, club captain Dyson Heppell and reigning Crichton Medallist Devon Smith are yet to return to full training following taxing 2018 campaigns.

Crow said neither player has been injured, with the duo instead taking a gradual approach to their return ahead of a long pre-season.

“There’s a couple of players - (Dyson) Heppell and Devon Smith are good examples - where we gave them a prolonged rest at the end of the season.

“We felt, with their different injury histories and the toll the season took on their bodies, that they needed extra time off feet without running.

“That means that having only just started back running, both of those will be progressing really smartly into that off-season period.

“(They will do) potentially little bits with the group, but mostly their own work on the other oval.”

Crow praised the squad and said the club is “really happy” with the condition of all players since returning to The Hangar in the last fortnight.

“We’ve got a professional group of players and they know how important it is to work through that off-season period,” he said.

“We expected them to have built up to 18km weeks by the time they got back and looking at how well they’ve done this week, we’re really confident that they’ve got a base behind them we can springboard off and have a really good pre-season.”

While each player is asked to meet certain training expectations throughout the off-season, Crow says the flexible nature of the side’s time off is important from a psychological point of view.

“There’s a program to make sure we get the right fitness and strength levels up and players will have some individual aspects to that.

“What (the players) like best about that time is they don’t necessarily have to come in here to do it.

“We have some players who prefer to come and train here, but we also have the majority who are able to travel the world or train in their own time and that freedom is a big mental fresh up for the group.”