On the cusp of returning from injury, ace Essendon defender Zach Reid has been sent for scans after feeling tightness in his hamstring.
Sidelined with a hamstring strain for the past five weeks, the highly rated but injury-prone Reid had been pressing his case for selection.
But after training fully at Tullamarine on Wednesday, the 23-year-old experienced tightness late in the session and has gone for scans.
Reid has suffered a difficult start to his AFL career after being drafted with pick 10 in 2020.
He had been restricted to just nine games across his first four seasons, but had been enjoying a breakout year before being injured in the Dreamtime win against Richmond six weeks ago.
Reid's setback comes after Essendon's bye week was blighted by injuries on the training track to Mason Redman, Darcy Parish and Kyle Langford.
Redman (hamstring) will miss at least this Saturday's clash with Gold Coast at Marvel Stadium, but Parish (calf) and Langford (quad) have been ruled out indefinitely.
Fourteen players were on the Bombers' injury update, released on Tuesday, with four of them out for the season.
Before training on Wednesday, Essendon coach Brad Scott attempted to focus on the positives instead of the dire state of their injury list.
"We're just in a situation at the moment where we've just got to roll on," Scott said.
"We'll select 23 fit and very capable players this weekend.
"That's the thing about the headlines, 'injury crisis' and all these things.
"I guarantee you it's not a crisis to those players who are on the fringes.
"It's an opportunity to put their name up in lights and get their opportunity.
"It's clearly not ideal, we'd love to have better availability, but we've had players emerge who wouldn't have had their opportunity otherwise."
