Essendon's injury count continues to mount, with a training incident forcing first-year key defender Michael Hurley out of Sunday's AFL match against Fremantle.

Hurley, who impressed in his debut against Port Adelaide in the opening round, strained a quad muscle during a kicking drill on Thursday and could be sidelined for up to four weeks.

He was the second Bomber injured at training this week after midfielder Sam Lonergan fractured a hand at training on Tuesday.

It follows a recent setback for another Essendon youngster, key position player Scott Gumbleton, who is out indefinitely with a back injury.

Mark McVeigh, Andrew Welsh, Kyle Reimers, Jason Laycock and Brent Prismall are other Bombers unavailable.

"This is the first soft-tissue injury we have had for the year and these sorts of injuries can occur in young players," Essendon football manager Paul Hamilton said of Hurley.

"The positive is that young Darcy Daniher has been playing well and now gets the opportunity to come into the squad as a tall option down back."

The Bombers also included Irishman Michael Quinn and draftee David Zaharakis in their 25-man squad for Sunday's game at Etihad Stadium.

Coach Matthew Knights said both were realistic chances of making their AFL debuts against the Dockers.

"David Zaharakis has show some promising form of late - not only last week in the VFL but over the two weeks prior to that," Knights said on EssendonFC.com.au.

"He has put himself in the equation to be selected this week and, although we will work that out later in the week, he looks to be a really strong chance.

"It is also exciting to have our Irish recruit, Michael Quinn, named in the squad. He has played really consistently in the VFL for a month ... and is a realistic chance of being picked as well."

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