ESSENDON general manager of Football Josh Mahoney is \u201chopeful\u201d skipper Dyson Heppell will be fit to face Sydney on Thursday night.<\/p>\n
Heppell was a late withdrawal from the club\u2019s round 2 loss to Port Adelaide with a back spasm and missed the round 3 win over St Kilda.<\/p>\n
Essendon has been ravaged by injury with Dylan Shiel (knee), Sam Draper (syndesmosis) and Jye Caldwell (hamstring) to miss extended periods.<\/p>\n
Mahoney said Heppell is a chance to return for Essendon’s round 4 match against the Swans.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a particularly difficult game for him to miss given we were coming up against Port Adelaide who have a really strong forward line and we\u2019ve got an inexperienced defence,\u201d he told SEN Breakfast.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe role he\u2019s been playing down there just for a bit of leadership has been important.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had a little back spasm on Thursday, it\u2019s got a bit of disc issue which can take some time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hopeful that he\u2019ll get up for this week, if not, maybe the game after that which we play in Sydney five days later.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s moving around better than he was, he had a quiet weekend, we trained a bit today (Tuesday) and how he goes today will probably dictate whether he plays this weekend or not.\u201d<\/p>\n
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