Essendon key defender Cale Hooker is likely to miss the next three weeks after sustaining a hamstring strain during Saturday’s 21-point loss to North Melbourne.

General manager of football operations, Paul Hamilton said the loss of 22 year-old Hooker would be felt by the Bombers as scans today confirmed the grade one hamstring strain.

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“He has a grade one hamstring strain so it is likely that it will be around a three week period that he’ll miss and that is very disappointing,” Hamilton said.

“Cale has had a stellar season already and each week he performs really well and on some very good opponents too, so he will be heavily missed.

“Luckily of course we saw Tayte Pears return from his injuries on the weekend and I know he is looking forward to stepping up after a sound first-up performance.”

Midfielder Heath Hocking, who left the field early in the second quarter after a heavy knock from Kangaroo Luke Delaney, may be available for Friday night’s clash against Hawthorn but will face testing during the week after suffering concussion.

“He is still a chance at this stage, but it was a pretty heavy knock and we are pretty cautious with what happens there,” Hamilton said.

“We do a lot of testing and we’ll do some testing later in the week just to work out where he is at and we’ll be guided by our doctors.

“While there is a chance he’ll return on Friday, we certainly won’t be taking any risks and we will follow all the protocol involved with a concussion.”
 

Hamilton said Michael Hurley, who booted four majors on Saturday despite leaving the field at one stage in the game with a tight calf, has recovered well and is likely to be available for selection this week.

“Hurles is fine, so long as he gets through training this week. His calf tightness shouldn’t stop him from being available to play on Friday night and so as long as he gets through training, he will be fine.”

Versatile defender Anthony Long, who is yet to debut for Essendon, is recovering well from surgery following a reoccurring hamstring strain.

“It has been a long, tough hard road for Anthony and it is disappointing because we’d all love to see him out there playing some great football,” Hamilton told BomberTV.

“He’s had continuous hamstring problems and had a second operation on his hamstring only last week so it’s been a tough road for the young lad because he’d love to be out there playing this year.

“He’s a great young man and hopefully we’ll see him out later towards the year,” he said.

Hamilton added both Scott Gumbleton and Darcy Daniher made promising returns through the VFL during the Bendigo Bombers’ victory over the Box Hill Hawks.

“They were both very good and Scotty kicked three goals and just got better as the game went on and Darcy showed that he is a really tough and strong and very fearless so it was really promising from both those boys.”