Essendon forward Peter Wright will miss Round 1 clash with Hawthorn due to a shoulder injury

A last minute injury at training on Friday was the hiccup new New Essendon coach Brad Scott didn’t want ahead of Round 1

Peter Wright isn’t going anywhere. Picture: Michael Klein

New Essendon coach Brad Scott copped the worst possible injury news on the eve of Round 1 after declaring he wasn’t prepared to take risks with players for “sugar hits” early in his tenure.

Hours after announcing he’d signed a new four-year deal, reigning Essendon best and fairest Peter Wright was ruled out of Sunday’s clash with Hawthorn after dislocating his shoulder at training.

Wright left the track early before confirmation came he could be sidelined for more than one week

“He has been sent for scans this afternoon with the results to dictate the next course of action for him,” a club statement said.

“The club will work through rehab options in the coming days.”

Peter Wright has been ruled out against the Hawks on Sunday.

— Essendon FC (@essendonfc) March 17, 2023

Scott had earlier revealed star Jake Stringer was “medically available” to play but wasn’t picked because the club wasn’t going to risk a long-term strategy just to bank early wins.

Stringer and his fitness battles remain a focus for critics, with Dylan Shiel this week calling for people to stop shaming his teammate who will miss the clash with the Hawks after another interrupted pre-season.

Scott said Stringer would return to the side “sooner rather than later” and the criticism of his star was of little concern.

“He’s medically available now, so he’s in full training, and it’s just a matter of getting the work into him. So I can’t put a timeframe on that,” Scott said on Friday.

“It’ll be, I suspect, sooner rather than later because he’s ready, but he’s not ready for round 1.

“There’s medically available and there’s being fully conditioned and ready to compete for 125 minutes.

Jake Stringer is still on ice. Picture: Ian Currie

“My conversations with Jake had a focus on the facts that are before us. We want him to be a big, strong, powerful player.

“He’s been training really well and we just want to focus on what he does really well. And as I said to him, if you weren’t such a good player, people wouldn’t worry about you.

“But one thing we won‘t do is we won’t sacrifice our long-term journey that we’re on for any short-term sugar hits, and that clear in selection.”

Brad Scott, senior coach of the Bombers. Pic: Michael Klein

Scott also addressed the football department moves involving football boss Josh Mahoney and veteran recruitment manager Adrian Dodoro which have been made to help address “stability” issues at the club

The new coach said he was comfortable they were needed and being handled the correct way for the club, which hasn’t won a final since 2004.

“Clearly the club is going through some pretty unstable times and we are searching for stability and I think that’s really, really important,” he said.

“We certainly need to shift some things culturally and we need to improve. The reality is we sit a long way off the best teams right at the moment.

“But that’s why change has been made, and we’ve got a lot of work to do to bring that stability, that essence we’ve been craving for a long time.”

Originally published as Essendon forward Peter Wright will miss Round 1 clash with Hawthorn due to a shoulder injury