Emerging Essendon defender Jordan Ridley is set for a lengthy stint on the sidelines because of a back injury.

The 18 year old experienced some discomfort during training last week and could spend up to 12 weeks out.

“Jordan Ridley had some back pain last week, obviously given his age we were pretty keen to find out what was going on,” High Performance Manager Justin Crow said.

“Unfortunately Jordan has a partial stress fracture in his back, which in one sense gives us a chance to let it heal because it hasn’t broken through, so we’re going to take that opportunity.

“He’s going to have six to eight weeks off running and then build back up into the season.

“It’s normally between two and four weeks [after the initial six to eight weeks] to build up to play.



“The good news for Jordan is he really only needs to avoid impact – which means running… so he’ll be able to do a lot of weights over the next couple of months.”

Ridley was the Bombers second pick (number 22 overall) in last year’s National Draft.

He gathered ten disposals in his first taste of the JLT Community Series against Gold Coast last month.