Aaron Henneman will miss the next month of football after yesterday undergoing arthroscopic surgery to repair an injured hip. The surgery was required to repair torn cartilage in his hip joint. It is yet another setback for Henneman whose season has been plagued by injury after an excellent pre-season and start to the year. His absence with the hip problem has been a blow to the Bombers who could have done with him against the tall Western Bulldog and West Coast forward lines - particularly given the absence of Dustin Fletcher.

""He would have been very useful the past couple of weeks but we can't worry about that. We just need to get him back and playing again as quickly as we can. He's naturally disappointed but knows that his season certainly isn't over. We still think he can play a role for us later in the year,"" Essendon football manager Matthew Drain said.