Gumbleton out for 12 weeks

ESSENDON key forward Scott Gumbleton will miss at least three months of this season after the club took the decision to operate on his troublesome back.

However, the injury-prone youngster could be ruled out for the rest of the season, as he is not due to have the surgery for a fortnight and he will then have to rest for another 12 before resuming training.

Gumbleton is suffering from a bulging disc, an injury similar to that suffered by fellow Bomber Jason Winderlich, who is now back and playing after two operations.

Assistant coach Scott Camporeale said Gumbleton, who has played just five games for the Bombers since being recruited from Peel Thunder in WA with pick two in the 2006 NAB AFL Draft, was still expected to have a long career at Windy Hill.

“Scotty will go in for surgery in 10 days time, and at this stage it’ll be a minimum 12 weeks (that he’ll be out of action),” Camporeale said on Friday.

“He’s a young guy who we think a great deal of, and we think he’s still got 10 good years of footy in him.”

Camporeale said other players had received similar treatment and had reacted positively.

“There’s obviously been a lot of examples of players that have been through it – Brad Ottens has had the same thing, and he’s come back and played a lot of good footy.

 “We’ve got a perfect example with Jason Winderlich who’s been through exactly the same thing, and he’s playing this weekend, so it really gives him some hope.

 “With Scotty’s age, and his attitude to getting back to playing again, we think we’ve got a good player on our hands - we’ve got two or three opinions, and we think he can come back bigger and better.

“We’ve been through every avenue possible with him over the last two years, so this will probably give him a little bit of closure and something to look forward to.”