Bombers senior coach Brad Scott has revealed the latest update on ailing pair Sam Draper and Brandon Zerk-Thatcher, as well as providing an update on uncapped draftee Elijah Tsatas.
It is understood Draper has suffered a setback in his recovery from a bothersome hip injury, with Scott on Wednesday ruling his burgeoning ruckman out of Essendon's next two matches, at minimum.
The 24-year-old, who last lined up for the Bombers in their Round 13 victory over Carlton, had time during Essendon's Round 14 bye to progress in his recovery; however, he was not deemed fit enough to partake in the club's Round 15 bout with Fremantle in Perth.
Addressing the media on Wednesday, Scott announced Draper wouldn't train and ruled him out of Essendon's next pair of contests.
"'Drapes won't train. He'll go through a period of, I'd say the next two weeks of unloading and then we're going to have to reload him, so that suggests that he won't play this week but he won't play for the next couple (of weeks)," Scott advised.
"Once we've unloaded him and we can make an assessment of the build-up back into training, then we'll have a clearer picture of when he'll play, but he won't play in the next couple of weeks."
Scott stressed Essendon's caution in getting Draper back to match fitness, adding his belief that he's been transparent in updating the wider public on his ruckman's recovery.
"I think I've been as transparent as I can be in terms of we need to unload him and he's just been struggling with something that's not acute," Scott said.
"It's not something that's like you tear your hamstring and you can't play for a couple of weeks, it's just been gradually getting a bit worse, so we just made the decision that we want to get him absolutely 100 per cent (match-fit) before we play him again.
"I just think that, when you've got a player who's dynamic and powerful and he's struggling through a season, that's not going to help us to just continue to go down that road, so it's that unloading phase, get some treatment in, and then reload him, and so hopefully that's a few weeks, but it's really hard to be definitive as to when he's going to be back."
Speedy recovery, Drapes. pic.twitter.com/fBvvISgueg
— Essendon FC (@essendonfc) June 28, 2023
At the very least, Draper is set to be sidelined for the Bombers' critical bout with Port Adelaide this weekend and their clash with the Adelaide Crows in Round 17.
The earliest it seems Draper could return from injury is in Round 18 when Essendon is fixtured to play Geelong at GMHBA Stadium.
Meantime, key-defending Bomber Brandon Zerk-Thatcher, who experienced adductor tightness during the latter stages of Essendon's defeat to Fremantle, appears available for selection this weekend after getting through training.
"'Thatch' will be fine, he trained earlier today, so we just got that report through," Scott said.
Essendon's first-year senior coach also issued an update on promising young midfielder Elijah Tsatas, who continues to bide his time with Essendon's reserves as he awaits an AFL debut.
"Very, very difficult to sort of put a timeframe on it (when he'll debut), he's just got enormous capability and the things he can do are really exciting to us, but we've got a pretty even and deep midfield," said Scott.
"We're just not going to rush Elijah, the temptation is your excitement gets the better of you and you want to get him in, but even though young players tend to come in and come out a little bit, Elijah's one player who I could see that when he comes in you suspect he's going to stay there, and so we want to set him up for that."
The No. 5 selection at last year's National Draft, Tsatas has averaged 21.5 disposals and three marks across two VFL contests since returning from injury in Round 11.
The Bombers' meeting with the Power is scheduled for this Saturday at 7:25 PM AEST at the MCG.