Tim Watson says there are major concerns surrounding Essendon’s Michael Hurley.
The 30-year-old has returned to hospital as he continues to deal with a serious infection in his hip that threatens to derail his 2021 season.
Former Bombers skipper Watson and SEN Breakfast co-host Garry Lyon discussed the Hurley situation which could see the veteran defender sidelined for some time still.
Lyon: “Is it of grave concern, Michael Hurley, for the year?”
Watson: “Yes, from what I’ve been told.”
Lyon: “His season? So it must be a serious infection?”
Watson: “It is, clearly it is. He’s got an infection in his hip, he went into hospital to have it treated, he left hospital, he went home and now he’s back in hospital because they’re still treating the infection.
“This is serious and they are really concerned about him and where he’s at right now. The number one concern right now is getting the infection under control. It’s not about when he’s going to come back and train, it’s actually about getting the infection under control.
“It’s an injury that he’s had to carry over a long period of time. He’s been bothered by hip concerns over his career.
“He’s had surgery before but I don’t think he had surgery recently. This is a result of something else. The concern is that they haven’t been able to get on top of the infection.
“He’s now probably been laid up and hasn’t been able to train for three weeks. When you’re inactive like that you know how quickly your body shuts down.
“So this is a major concern. It’s a major concern for Michael Hurley, his family and his health right now. That’s the number one concern.”
Watson also highlighted the point that Hurley had been training with the forwards this pre-season in a bid to offer coach Ben Rutten a new dimension in attack.
“They were looking at trialling him as a forward this year as well, so already their plans have been disrupted in some way,” he added.
“Joe Daniher’s gone, Orazio Fantasia is gone, Jake Stringer at the moment is recovering from an achilles and they can drag for a long period of time, and Michael Hurley, one of the guys they were going to play up forward, is in hospital with a leg infection.
“On the other side of that, they recruited Peter Wright and are hopeful he is going to stand up and play. They drafted a lot of key position style kids who are very skinny and light, and they are going to take time.
“All plans are subject to change in football. You’ve got to adapt and you’ve got to be agile around all these sorts of issues.”