Essendon coach Matthew Knights says a setback in Michael Hurley's recovery from wrist surgery is only minor
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ESSENDON coach Matthew Knights has allayed fears over young gun Michael Hurley's wrist, despite it copping a knock at training on Monday.
Hurley has only just had the plaster removed after an off-season operation, and a tremor ran through the ranks of Essendon fans as word leaked out that the wrist had been re-injured.
But despite Hurley clearly favouring the hand during the team's training session in Bundoora on Wednesday morning, Knights said the issue was a minor one.
"He had an incident on Monday whereby he jarred his wrist, but he went in and the docs cleared him, and he came out and trained today, so that would be just a little bit of a flow-on from that," he said.
"There's a little bit of soreness still, but it was only a jarring incident, and he'll adjust."
Also on the comeback trail is big man David Hille, who needed a knee reconstruction after going down in the first quarter of the club's amazing Anzac Day win last year.
The Bombers have ruled him out of any NAB Cup action, and are still not certain if he will be ready to go in round one of the regular season, although he could play as a key forward, something he has done well in the past.
"It depends who you speak to - if I get asked the question, I'd say he's going beautifully for round one," Knights said with a smile. "But I speak to the medicals and the fitness staff, and they have to keep the reins on him a bit.
"But we're all pretty united on that, that we'll play David when he's ready - it'll be 11 months come round one, so we've got to make a decision.
"But if he's not round one, he won't be too long after that - it's probably a round one to four bracket."
The Bombers suffered a horror run of injuries through the pre-season and early home-and-away season last year, but currently have just four players on modified programs - Jason Laycock, Darcy Daniher, Tyson Slattery and Hille.
Knights said the arrival of fitness guru Stu Cormack from West Coast after the 2008 season has the club on the right track.
"When Stuey came over from the West Coast Eagles 12 months ago we spoke about our list and where it was at, and we knew we had to build the endurance base and the fitness," Knights said.
"Certainly 12 months on we're forward, and we'd like to think that this time next year we'd be better equipped again in endurance and those repeat efforts.
"It's a gradual progression and we feel proud of the gains we're making, but we still think we've got a lot of scope with this group."
Knights also praised the captaincy of new skipper Jobe Watson, saying he had slotted into the role exceptionally well.
Watson has also beefed up over the summer break, with the coach saying that he was glad he wasn't still running around in the midfield of today, given the size of many of the current crop.
Michael Hurley averaged 69.11 points as a defender in last year’s Toyota AFL Dream Team.
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