Essendon considering unique mid-season draft ‘possibility’ as Ben McKay latest to go down

Essendon’s injury list continues to grow, with defender Ben McKay the latest star to be sidelined.

McKay won’t play in Thursday’s match against Brisbane at the Gabba due to a foot injury suffered when he was trodden on in the Bombers’ Dreamtime win over Richmond last Friday.

Essendon coach Brad Scott says the club are yet to determine a return timeline.

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“He won’t play this week. The short turnaround is going to make that too difficult,” Scott said on Monday.

“We’re still assessing. He had a scan this morning, so we’ll get those results.”

The timing couldn’t be much worse for the Bombers, who also lost forward Kyle Langford (quad) and key defender Zach Reid (hamstring) against Richmond.

Scott does not expect to see the duo before their round-16 bye.

Langford, a two-time leading goal-kicker at Essendon, has already missed six games this season due to a knee injury.

Essendon's Kyle Langford (L) could miss a number of weeks after being injured against Richmond. Credit: AAP

The trio join Jordan Ridley (hamstring) and Harrison Jones (ankle) on the injury list, with Nick Bryan (knee), Thomas Edwards (knee), Lewis Hayes (knee) and Sam Draper (achilles) suffering season-ending injuries.

Scott could turn to Darcy Parish after the midfielder played his first game of the season in the VFL following back and calf setbacks.

But Saad El-Hawli has also been ruled out, suffering a hamstring strain in the reserves.

With the mid-season draft slated for Wednesday, Scott said there was a chance a rookie could be handed a debut on Thursday.

“It’s not beyond the realms of possibility — we might have to look for Queenslanders; a bit logistically easier,” Scott joked about the Gabba match.

Fremantle defender Simpson goes under the knife after injuring his left shoulder in a heavy hip-and-shoulder with Port Adelaide’s Logan Evans.

Simpson’s injury comes as Dockers captain Alex Pearce faces a three-match ban for a heavy collision with Darcy Byrne-Jones.

“This is a relatively rare injury and the best intervention is to head in for surgery,” Dockers football boss Joe Brierty said in a statement.“We will know more on timeframes post the procedure, but at this stage we expect Coop to be back playing in around 10 weeks.”

Meanwhile, Fremantle youngster Cooper Simpson is set to miss at least 10 weeks after undergoing surgery on his left shoulder.