ESSENDON remains completely in the dark on when Michael Hurley will return to the club.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Ben Rutten said their primary focus is Hurley\u2019s wellbeing and doesn\u2019t yet have a timeline on his return.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Hurley] was doing really well and was out training with the boys and came back pre-Christmas when he didn\u2019t need to, but really unluckily he\u2019s got an infection in his hip,\u201d Rutten told SEN Breakfast.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re still kind of unsure how it got in there. First and foremost, we\u2019re concerned about his health and wellbeing.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s spent some time in hospital, he\u2019s spent some time at home on I.V. drip. He\u2019s pretty much been laid up and doing no physical work for a couple of weeks now.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not sure when we\u2019re going to see him back or even back at the club just yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the interview, club great Tim Watson admitted \u201cexpectations are low in terms of what he can do for them on field this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Garry Lyon is worried we might not see Hurley for quite some time, given how long he has been off his feet.<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly for half a year he\u2019s not going to be in consideration and by then you might say we\u2019ll put him away,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n