Essendon are expecting midfield duo Darcy Parish and Sam Durham to miss the club's upcoming pre-season clash against the Western Bulldogs, likely joining talls Harrison Jones and Ben McKay.
Parish has been dealing with a persistent back problem from late 2024 that has plagued his 2025 preparations, with on-lookers noting he hasn't joined in on full training or any match simulations.
The Bombers believe the 2021 All-Australian is a "good chance" to feature against Geelong during the league's AAMI Community Series pending no "hiccups" but are "confident" of an Opening Round appearance.
"He's had ongoing back stiffness that he's been unable to shake until the last couple of weeks," Essendon GM of Football Daniel McPherson toldย AFL Media.
"It's been frustrating. He had a pretty good patch when we first got back but just before Christmas and coming out of it he's been unable to shake a bit of stiffness.
"He's coming out of it and progressing really well now and he'll be ready to integrate pretty quickly over the next week or two.
"He probably won't (play against the Bulldogs). But he's a pretty good chance at this point, if he doesn't have any more hiccups, to play Geelong. We're very confident he'll be right for the start [against Gold Coast]."
Emerging midfielder Durham is also under an injury cloud and will be treated cautiously as the earlier start for the club will play into consideration.
The youngster copped a nasty hit to the ribs during training last week, with McPherson all but ruling him out of next week's clash with the Bulldogs.
"He's just sore, he got a whack a couple of weeks ago. If we were in season he'd be playing, he's a pretty tough bugger," McPherson said.
"He's had an outstanding pre-season and come back in great shape. He didn't miss a beat the whole way up until a couple of weeks ago. In terms of the work he's got under his belt he's in great shape and there's no point taking a risk with him.
"He probably won't play against the Dogs either but we expect him to play against the Cats and be good to go from there. He's a pretty important player for us and he's in great shape so there's not a conditioning issue or anything with him."
As for Jones (ankle) and McKay (ankle), the pair will need to do everything right to put their names forward for the Bulldogs clash, but are likely to be held back.
