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Essendon have revealed veteran defender Michael Hurley is making good progress as he battles to return to action following a hip injury that almost ended his career.
The Bombers are determined to build on their finals appearance in 2021 and are priced at 6/4 to finish in the top eight in 2022.
Hurley did not play an AFL game in 2021 after suffering serious complications with a hip infection that threatened to curtail his career.
The 31-year-old was forced into hospital and lost more than 10kg but thankfully he now appears to be on the mend and has at least started running again.
Hurley has yet to start training with the main group again and the Bombers have yet to set a date for his return, but still the news coming out of the club is positive.
"Since Christmas, (Hurley) has been progressively building up his running loads outside and there hasn't been any hiccups as yet," Essendon football manager Josh Mahoney said.
"He's taking on all the loads, recovering well and we'll just continue to step that up and watch how he reacts to it. But all things are looking positive for Hurls at the moment."
Meanwhile small forward Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti is also battling to be fit in time for the new season after picking up a niggle in his calf.
"(McDonald-Tipungwuti) had a slight calf injury just before Christmas, which modified the training he could do over the break," Mahoney added.
"He's a little bit behind the guys physically and needs to do a bit of work to rehab and to get physically ready to go to join the main group again in the near future."
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