When will Hurley return to Essendon?

ESSENDON remains completely in the dark on when Michael Hurley will return to the club.

The veteran defender has been dealing with a serious infection in his hip and has been in and out of hospital across the last month.

Ben Rutten said their primary focus is Hurley’s wellbeing and doesn’t yet have a timeline on his return.

“[Hurley] was doing really well and was out training with the boys and came back pre-Christmas when he didn’t need to, but really unluckily he’s got an infection in his hip,” Rutten told SEN Breakfast.

“We’re still kind of unsure how it got in there. First and foremost, we’re concerned about his health and wellbeing.

“He’s spent some time in hospital, he’s spent some time at home on I.V. drip. He’s pretty much been laid up and doing no physical work for a couple of weeks now.

“We’re not sure when we’re going to see him back or even back at the club just yet.”

After the interview, club great Tim Watson admitted “expectations are low in terms of what he can do for them on field this year.”

Garry Lyon is worried we might not see Hurley for quite some time, given how long he has been off his feet.

“Certainly for half a year he’s not going to be in consideration and by then you might say we’ll put him away,” he said.

-BY NIC NEGREPONTIS/ SEN