Courtney Johns has today officially been taken off the long-term injury list having fully recovered from a hip injury. The return to the primary playing list is an enormous achievement in itself for the former East Fremantle youngster who has battled to overcome a chronic hip injury for the past two years. Where he plays this weekend remains to be seen.

With Johns now back on the senior list, Essendon is now left with two elevated rookies on the list - Nathan Lovett-Murray and Andrew Lovett and two players on the long-term injury list - Adam Ramanauskas and Andrew Lee. Lovett-Murray is on for Ramanauskas and Lovett replaces Lee.

A fit Lee would return to the senior list meaning Lovett would return to the rookie list and be ineligible to play senior football. However Andrew Lee - who was thought to be just two weeks away from returning from osteitis pubis - has not progressed as medical staff would have wished and he is now four-to-six weeks away at best.

""He has not responded as well as we would have liked at this stage and we will have to assess his progress in the next month,"" Essendon football operations manager Dom Cato said. ""We have discussed the possibility of surgery with Andrew - it is something that might be required to help him overcome the condition.""

""It is not unprecedented in cases such as this and if that is what we are required to do in the medium-to-long term interest of him, that is what we will do. Rather than trying to push him to get him right for the last few games of this season, the best option might simply be to get him right so that he can attack the 2006 pre-season.""