Essendon face the prospect of being without Jake Stringer for a least a month, according to coach John Worsfold.
Stringer suffered a suspected syndesmosis injury in the dying stages of Friday night’s 15-point win over Collingwood.
Worsfold said he faced a “number of weeks” on the sidelines.
“He looks like he’s going to miss a number of weeks,” Worsfold told Fox Footy.
“It’s really disappointing for Jake and us obviously. It’s a syndesmosis injury and I’ve only had the basic outline of it…suffice to say he’s going to be unavailable for a number of weeks.
“Generally they’re at least a four week injury and we’ve seen players get back in that time with surgery and he’s got to discuss whether that’s the option he’ll go down.
“They can be up to a three-month injury but we don’t know where that’s at.”
Stringer was one of Essendon's most important players on Friday night, kicking three goals.