ESSENDON will lose David Hille and Angus Monfries for the next two weeks after both players injured hamstrings in Sunday's narrow loss to the Sydney Swans.

Essendon football manager Paul Hamilton confirmed the injury news on Monday morning.

"With David Hille, it's a definite hamstring. We're thinking it's a grade one - we need to have that confirmed by MRI," he said.

"It's the same as Angus Monfries. They'll probably miss the next two games; then we've got the bye, and they'll be available the week after."

Tom Bellchambers looks set to take Hille’s spot after impressing for Bendigo Bombers in the VFL on the weekend, while Dustin Fletcher (suspension) and Brent Stanton (ankle) will return after missing Sunday's SCG defeat.

Essendon comes up against a Geelong side this week that is recovering from a trip to Perth, but Hamilton said they would never take the Cats lightly.

“I don’t think any team in their right mind would say Geelong is going to be easy at any stage. They are an unbelievably good team,” he said.

“We understand that, we’ve got a massive respect for them and our playing group. We performed well in round one for three quarters against them. It gives us some confidence, so we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Hamilton said the wet conditions in the second half of the Swans game were difficult for a side that plays most of their home games at the sheltered Etihad Stadium, but he blamed the loss on a lack of presence at stoppages rather than the weather.

“It is always a challenge I think, because in the modern game you don’t tend to play on ovals where there’s much mud. We don’t tend to play in a lot of rain, so it is always an adjustment factor,” he said.

“What we were disappointed in was our work around the contest. We were poor in that area and we’ve got to improve. That was when it was dry, not just when it was wet. You need to be able to adjust to conditions.”