Essendon defender Aaron Henneman will miss between four and six weeks with an injured kidney. Henneman didn’t feel any significant discomfort following the Bombers' loss to the Kangaroos last Friday but his condition progressively deteriorated. A specialist today diagnosed a laceration of the left kidney that has caused bleeding into the back of the stomach.

Henneman will be confined to bed rest for the next six days and will miss at least a month of football as a result. This latest setback is a severe blow for Henneman who has battled injury for much of the past two and a half seasons. He has already missed a large chunk of this season because of hamstring and hip injuries.

""We all feel for Aaron because he is a terrific young man who has worked so hard so get himself back into the senior side,"" Essendon manager of football operations Dom Cato said this afternoon.

""The injury was sustained during the course of the game. There was nothing to indicate the seriousness of it immediately after the game. The most important thing is Aaron’s health so we won’t be rushing him back until he is cleared by medical staff.""