Michael Hurley will undergo a shoulder reconstruction following Essendon's elimination final loss to the West Coast Eagles.

Hurley partially dislocated his shoulder in the Bombers' round 23 clash with Collingwood and there were some doubts about him returning in time for their elimination final clash. Hurley also missed a month of football earlier in the season with an AC joint injury.

“Dislocating it against Collingwood, I wasn’t really sure how long it was going to take to settle down,” Hurley told essendonfc.com.au.

“The first week it was really sore, and I wasn’t really sure that I would get up. But the pain subsided throughout the second week.

“It’s a little bit sore. I spoke to the doctors and I think I need to have a reconstruction at some point, so we’ll plan that out and it’ll probably happen in the next week or so.”

Essendon and Hurley in particular, will look to recuperate this off-season and build towards a stronger 2020 season.