ESSENDON defender Tayte Pears has been released from hospital after undergoing pancreas surgery on Saturday.

The club said the 20-year-old has been able to walk around his hospital room for the last few days and is making a speedy recovery.

Pears had spent much of the weekend in intensive care after injuring his pancreas in the opening minutes of Friday night’s clash with Hawthorn.

"The first few days after the injury were very tough for him and the family," Essendon club doctor Bruce Reid said.

"But being fit and young has definitely added his recovery and he is doing very well."

Pears will be unable to do any serious physical activity for six weeks, which includes a ban on upper body weights and running.

"He has lost about five kilograms in weight as he couldn't take solids for the first six days, but we expect him to put that weight back on quickly," Dr Reid said.

Dr Reid compared the injury to Leigh Colbert's pancreas injury in 2003 although he stressed it was not quite as serious.

“He (Colbert) actually ruptured his pancreas whereas Tayte’s got a bruised pancreas," Dr Reid said on Monday.

"It’s a big operation, a two and a half hour operation but no split of the pancreas, which means he will make a full recovery.”

Pears is expected to miss eight to 10 weeks but Reid said the recovery would be mainly from the trauma of the operation rather than the actual incident.

“The biggest problem is you’ve got to cut right up the middle so that wound is going to take six weeks to really get strong," Dr Reid said.

“He is going to lose fitness. If we’re in the running he’ll need three or four weeks to get fit so he’s going to play in eight or 10.

"If the season’s over because we perform badly then it’s up to the coach whether we’ll rest him.”

Reid, who has been with Essendon for 28 years, says Pears’ injury had the potential to be one of the more serious on-field injuries he had encountered.

“We’ve had a few ruptured spleens, (Matthew) Lloyd in ’96 spent 10 days in intensive care," he said. "The thing about blood is that as long as you can stop the bleeding it doesn’t do any damage.

“The potential of a pancreas is that the secretions digest you, so we don’t want them outside the pancreas or the bowel."