Star Essendon Bombers forward Jake Stringer will miss up to a month of football after scans confirmed a hamstring strain on Tuesday afternoon.
The 28-year-old forward, who has been with Essendon since the beginning of the 2018 season, has been in an out of the team to start the year as he has battled with the injury.
Now he will miss between three and four weeks after aggravating the injury on the weekend.
Essendon general manager of football Josh Mahoney said it was a "standard hamstring strain."
"Scans today have confirmed the strain is to his right hamstring, which is the different side to his previous hamstring injury,” Mahoney said.
“This is a reasonably standard 3-4 week injury, and Jake will use this time on the sidelines to ensure a full recovery to return for a strong second half of the season.”
Stringer has managed just four games so far this year being well below his best, managing just seven goals and 12 disposals per game over the opening rounds of the season.
Essendon have made a torrid start to the new season, winning just one of their first seven games to sit in 16th place on the ladder - only ahead of the North Melbourne Kangaroos and West Coast Eagles at the bottom on percentage, and already three wins out of the top eight.
Things aren't about to get any easier for the Bombers either, with the side to play Hawthorn, the Sydney Swans, Richmond Tigers and Port Adelaide over the next month.
The Bombers will release more injury and performance news on Wednesday.