Essendon coach Brad Scott has shared the latest update on ailing defender Jayden Laverde, who was substituted out of Saturday night's loss to Geelong at GMHBA Stadium after suffering a considerable ankle injury.
Laverde exited the contest in the second quarter after a rocketing Gary Rohan incidentally clattered into his right leg as he was kicking the ball.
Rohan appeared to receive incidental contact of his own from Bombers captain Zach Merrett, seemingly causing Rohan to impact the contest with additional momentum than he otherwise would have, potentially causing greater impact.
After Scott and the Bombers' medical team deemed Laverde would no longer continue playing, starting tactical substitute Nick Hind was inserted into the contest.
Jayden Laverde comes from the field after this smother attempt from Gary Rohan.
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However, in a positive turn for Essendon, Scott revealed post-game that Laverde's removal from the contest was 'precautionary', labelling the injury a 'simple ankle sprain'.
"Yeah, he was fine, so, [the injury occurred] in the second quarter, when I say 'he's fine' he rolled his ankle, but he was fine to continue to play on [but] just with the state of the game, it didn't make sense to me to keep pushing him out there, so that was a precautionary sub," explained Scott on Saturday.
Doubling down on the minuscule severity of Laverde's ailment, Scott stated he doesn't think his key defender will require a subsequent scan to assess the issue further.
"I don't think he'll need one (a scan), to be honest," Scott continued. "It's a pretty simple ankle sprain, we expect him to be fine, but the thing is, we're subbing him off, when I say that it's just because if you've got swelling and it swells more, I just thought why make it worse?"
Scott's Bombers, who were trounced by the Cats by 77 points at GMHBA Stadium, look to turn things around in Round 19 when they play the Western Bulldogs next Friday night.