Young Essendon tall Nik Cox has avoided surgery on his foot, after he suffered a Lisfranc injury in the VFL in recent weeks.
A foot and ankle surgeon suggested that a non-surgical procedure would be the best way to go, which could see Cox return in the latter part of the season, instead of missing the season altogether.
Essendon Head Physiotherapist Nick Kane was pleased with the result with Cox and outlined the youngster's course of action and recovery to remain a chance to suit up towards the end of the season.
"‘Coxy’ we had a good result with. He had a consult with the surgeon, and it was deemed to be a low-end injury to the ligament through the mid-foot and the best course of action was a non-surgical approach," Kane told Essendon's club website.
"He’ll be in a boot for the foreseeable future, and we’ll build him up from there. We’re not ruling Coxy out for the remainder of the year."
In other injury news, midfielder Jye Caldwell and defender James Stewart are a chance to return to the lineup against Port Adelaide on Sunday, whilst Matt Guelfi will miss the Power clash with a hamstring strain.
Jake Stringer, Kyle Langford and Will Snelling will all miss this weekend's game, but are all on track to return after their bye, as is Guelfi.
"Jake’s progressing well. He’s in more of a reconditioning block and building some high volumes of high-speed running and training, so he’s been putting the work in and he’s well on track to be back after the bye," Kane said.
"‘Snell’ is back running well. He’s building his training volumes. We expect to see him (pushing) for games soon after the bye.
"Langford is in the end stages of his rehab where he’s very close to joining back in with the main group with training where we want to see him train with the group for a couple of weeks before returning to play, so also soon after the bye."
Essendon travel to Adelaide Oval to face Port Adelaide on Sunday afternoon as apart of Sir Doug Nicholls Round.