Essendon midfielder Will Setterfield has reached a significant milestone in his recovery from a foot stress injury.

The first-year Don hasn’t played since round nine, enduring a steady rehabilitation regime in anticipation of a return to play in the coming weeks.

GM of Performance Daniel McPherson said after weeks of being off-track, Setterfield has recently begun running and will progressively build back into main training.

“Will’s progressing well with his rehab program and has begun on-ground running,” McPherson said.

“We’ll continue to increase his loading over the next few weeks. He’ll build into main training over the next couple of weeks ahead of a return to play, hopefully for round 19 or 20.”

The Bombers are in no rush to put a timeframe on ruckman Sam Draper’s return.

McPherson said Draper is still letting his initial hip injury heal before commencing any on-ground training.

“Drapes will have another de-loading week this week before we can hopefully start to build him back up from next week,” McPherson said.

Defender Kaine Baldwin suffered a minor ankle injury at training, but should be available for selection post-Essendon’s VFL round 16 bye.

The Bombers may also be without defender Zach Reid for the rest of the season after it was announced the 21-year-old had undergone surgery to repair a re-aggravation of a hamstring injury.

Essendon round 17 injury list