The Bombers injury news didn't improve at Colonial Stadium on Saturday night when Justin Blumfield left the field with an injured knee. But the news that Blumfield could be sidelined for up to a month was somewhat softened by the excellent return Chris Heffernan made to football on Sunday. In his first game of football this season, Heffernan was eased into the action midway through the second term and didn't take him long to find the football. Heffernan collected 16 possessions for the Bombers, took five marks and impressed the coaching panel with his return.

Essendon assistant coach Robert Shaw said Heffernan had made a very solid return to football. ""He did everything we could have asked of him yesterday - he got plenty of the football and ran the game out well,"" Shaw said. ""We will just weigh up this week whether or not he is ready to return to the seniors. It will depend on who we have available and the team structure we want to go with in Brisbane.""

Heffernan injured his knee in a pre-season training mishap. Four other players - Joe Misiti, Mark Mercrui, Michael Long and Steven Alessio - are presently recovering from arthroscopic surgery. All are progressing well with their rehabilitation.