Last night Bomber coach Kevin Sheedy ruled Paul Salmon out of this weekend’s match against the Fremantle Dockers and said he is unlikely to play the ruckman until the last 12 games of the season. “Paul Salmon won't be considered this week at all. Paul Salmon is more or less to be considered to get ready for the last 12 games. It is round 6 already next week - you blink and all of a sudden it is round 6,” Sheedy said.

""We would like him to play at the moment but we are not going to rush Paul Salmon in. David Hille and Steve Alessio are probably ready to peak - Alessio has been up for about five weeks and Hille has been in good form, so I don't think we need another ruckman in the side at the moment.""

A disappointment for the Essendon team against Collingwood was the injury to rising star Damien Peverill. Sheedy says the loss of Peverill is huge after his great form this year. ""He is a definite loss - there is no doubt about it. We are going to find it hard to replace him but I think he will only be about five weeks. I put the challenge to him - come back fitter than what you were. It has got nothing to do with your legs, your stomach or your brain - it is an arm injury. So it should have nothing to do with his fitness - so that is the challenge to Peverill at the moment. He can run as much as he likes as soon as he can, ride the bike for as long as he can and naturally get back fitter than what he was and then build on his ball skills and he will do the most dedicated thing to help his team - get back into winning form.""