Essendon defender Courtenay Dempsey banished to VFL after posting photo of late night out on Instagram

COURTENAY Dempsey has been banished to the VFL after posting a photo of himself on Instagram breaking Essendon's injury curfew.

Courtenay Dempsey

ESSENDON coach James Hird says he had no hesitation banishing running defender Courtenay Dempsey to the VFL team for breaching team rules for injured players last week.

"Courtenay was in the rehab group, he had a sore ankle and we don't want them going out late a night," Hird said.

"He was out late, he wasn't drinking heavily, he wasn't thrown out of anywhere, he wasn't doing anything wrong. But the standards the players have set themselves, he shouldn't have been out and that's why he's not playing (seniors). He's disappointed but he understands he broke the code the players have set,'' the coach said.

Dempsey was found out after posting a photo of himself on his account on social media site Instagram.

Asked whether he believed it was wrong that Dempsey was publicly outed for a minor late night infringement and yet a teammate could be playing on two drug strikes, Hird replied: "I don't think he has been named and shamed, I think that's the reality.

"You don't keep these sorts of things to yourselves, it doesn't stay in the club for long. The issue of strikes for illicit drugs is an issue for the AFL and the AFLPA have come to terms with.

"They've got a very strict set of guidelines that are set out to ensure people are rehabilitated and looked after rather than put in a position where's they're upset.''

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Meanwhile, Essendon has driven big man Patrick Ryder through a rigorous training regimen to ensure he's ready for his return tomorrow.

Hird said the training staff had put extra time into the ruckman-forward who hasn't played since being suspended for rough conduct in the Round 3 game against Fremantle in Perth.

"We've certainly trained him hard over the last four or five weeks. He has done extra match conditioning sessions, a lot of extra running and extra work with the group after training. So, he's ready to go and, hopefully, his touch will be where it should be from the start of the game,'' Hird said.

"It was tempting (to play him in the VFL), but we didn't have a VFL game last week, obviously with the bye in the VFL, so he would've played VFL last week.''

Patrick Ryder

Hird said fellow tall forward Scott Gumbleton has been genuinely rested to guard against recurring injuries to have back and hamstrings that plagued his early career.

"We legitimately thought Scott Gumbleton was in good form, deserved his place in the team and still does. For the first time in his career, he has played eight games ina row and we think it's time to give him a week's rest and see what happens next week,'' he said.

"All his markers from the high performance team are that he's at a risky stage with injury, so we'll rest him before that injury comes.

"I think Scott played reasonably well (against Geelong) and we were able to get Scott another game against quality opposition.

"The dilemma or the positive we have is we have some very good talls and they can't all play in the same team. We'll continue to put press on them to play well and bring in guys who are in good form.''

Hird said the Bombers' first loss for the season against Geelong was a reality check and the players had locked on to the task against Brisbane at Etihad Stadium tomorrow.

"I think we realise we've got a long way to go in the way we want to play. When you lose a game you had opportunities in, it's always disappointing, but on the other side, we were able to compete with what we think is the best team in the competition for a good percentage of the game,'' he said.

"We've turned our attention pretty quickly to Brisbane and obviously try to play well against Brisbane. I thought they played very well against West Coast, they worked hard and they can score against you if you don't defend well.

"And they've got a very good quality group around the ball, so we need to get things right around the ball to stop their ball movement.''