Essendon expects defender Michael Hartley to return to training within the next two weeks after a hamstring complaint cut short his training session on the weekend.

Hartley limped from the field early in the Club’s match-play session on Saturday.

The 23 year old who played 19 games last year was sent away for scans, with the results unlikely to cause too much disruption to his pre-season.

“Fans who came to the game would have seen Michael limp off fairly early in the piece,” High Performance Manager Justin Crow said.

“We had him scanned – in his hamstring he’s got some minor fascial irritation that has shown up.

“It’s really not of much concern to us and he’ll be back into training within the next fortnight.”

Cale Hooker didn’t train on Saturday because of hamstring tightness.

The Bombers are pleased with the work Hooker has done so far but will carefully manage the 2015 best and fairest winner to ensure he’s in peak condition for the clash with Hawthorn in round one.

“Cale is going to be on a very individual program all the way up to round one, which is going to be a big priority in getting him to play there,” Crow said.

“We’re going to be very selective in what he does and doesn’t do between now and then.

“We’re really happy with ‘Hooksy’ and he’s had a big pre-season to date.”

Tom Bellchambers is progressing well following his knee surgery last week, while Joe Daniher is close to resuming full training.

“Joe was involved in training today, he was involved in the warm-up last Saturday – so he’s building up to doing everything over the next couple of weeks,” Crow said.

Shaun McKernan got through the first quarter of match play on Saturday following off-season wrist and ankle surgery, while Josh Green showed no signs of the foot injury that ended his 2016 campaign.