Essendon coach Dean Solomon is confident youngster Sullivan Robey has escaped the worst possible outcome after failing to play out Saturday's game with a knee injury.
However, he almost certainly looks set to miss the last four games of 2026 after quickly becoming one of their most important contributors.
“They've ruled out the ACL, so there's nothing to that level, which is a great thing, but it didn't look good,” interim coach Dean Solomon said.
“I mean for a young player to go down like he did and then he was in a fair bit of pain on the bench, we were concerned about him, but fingers crossed we get a good outcome there.
“The doctors seem to be reasonably positive. (They think it is) nothing too major, which is a good thing, but if he is sore or if there's any risk, we won't be pushing him too hard for the rest of this year.
“But let's just wait to see what we can identify from the scans and then and then go from there. But I think anything major has been ruled out.”
Luckless defender Jordan Ridley also failed to play out the game with a foot injury which occurred in the second quarter but there is optimism that is on the more minor side.
It continues an injury-interrupted run for Ridley, who is believed to be exploring his future at the end of the season.
“He just landed and felt something on the bottom of his foot – a tweak or pull. They're unsure what it is at the moment, but I don't think they're majorly concerned about anything,” Solomon said.
“But we'll have scans the next day or two and identify what the problem is. Fingers crossed best case scenario from what they've said is he might be available next week. Fingers crossed, but we'll wait and see what the outcome of those scans are.”
