Essendon defender Mitch Brown will miss the next six weeks with an ankle injury.

The 26 year old suffered the injury late in the match against Melbourne when an opponent fell across his leg in a marking contest.

“Mitch Brown rolled his ankle towards the end of the game and he got carried off,” High Performance Manager Justin Crow said.

“He’s got what’s called an anterior disruption of his syndesmosis.

“That’s means most likely ‘Browny’ will miss six weeks, although these [injuries] can be a little bit unpredictable.

“He’ll be in a boot early because it’s an impact issue, but then we’ll get him going and get a better feel for it over the next few weeks."

Brown had played the last four games for the Bombers, after missing just one match in his debut season at the Club.

His absence is compounded by the confirmation Patrick Ambrose will miss a month with a quad injury.

Ambrose sustained the injury in the last training session ahead of the match against the Demons.

“Patty was kicking in our game activation session the day before the game,” Crow said.

“He does have a quad tear, so he’ll miss four weeks.

“It’s in his kicking leg … he’ll be running next week so in terms of maintaining his fitness, he’ll be ok.

“The biggest issue is kicking, so that takes him to two games before the bye when he’ll look to be returning.”

Despite the loss of two key defenders, Crow said the Bombers had generally pulled up well following a week where the side played two games within six days.

The Dons could be bolstered by the return of the rested Matthew Leuenberger, Aaron Francis and James Kelly for the match against Fremantle.