After interrupted pre-seasons, both Scott Gumbleton and Darcy Daniher made areturn to the field on the weekend with Essendon’s associated VFL club, theBendigo Bombers.
General manager of football operations, Paul Hamilton said it was extremelyencouraging to see both players returning from previous injury concerns.
“It’s been a tough road for both those boys, but it was fantastic to see boththose boys return to footy on the weekend in the VFL,” Hamilton said.
“Gumby got through the full game and it was Darcy’s first real game for theyear and it was really pleasing to see him out there and we’re now hoping tobuild on that from here.”
Click here to keep updated each week with the Bombers' injuries.
Hamilton told BomberTVthe only injury concern coming out of Essendon’s victory against the Bulldogs onSunday was from Ben Howlett, after he sustained a knock to the knee.
“The only concern coming out of Sunday’s game was Benny Howlett. He got aslight knock to his knee which was noted after the game,"" Hamilton said.
“He’ll get some scans to make sure there is no structural damage and we willfollow through from there but he is possibly the only one who is a chance tomiss.”
“Apart from that, both in the AFL and VFL there were no other injuries which ispleasing,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton added both Andrew Welsh and Tayte Pears were making encouragingprogress with their respective recovery programs. Welsh (abdominal) and Pears (foot) remain on the club's injury list but both are progressing well.
“With the type of injury Woosha has, it is expected that recovery is a slowprocedure and he’s been building on running and training. He’s returned toconditioning running and has really started to step it up.”
“We’ve also been particularly pleased with Tayte, and we’ve had a couple ofspecialists come in to see him as we really want to make sure we get hisrecovery right and he is making some great progress with where he is at,”Hamilton said.
Click here to keep updated each week with the Bombers' injuries.
Hamilton confirmed lively forward Alwyn Davey will be in the mix for selectionagainst the Swans in this week’s Round 2 clash, after recovering from afractured arm sustained during the pre-season NAB Cup campaign.
“Alwyn is certainly in the mix and he should be right to play as he was veryclose [to playing] on Sunday but the doctors just felt he needed one more weekjust to make sure the healing was secured.""
""We would think he would be available to play, in either the VFL or the AFLside, pending selection,” Hamilton told BomberTV.
