Essendon survived a scare on Wednesday when midfielder Leroy Jetta was hurt during an AFL intraclub match at Whitten Oval.

However assistant coach Sean Wellman said Jetta suffered a gash to his leg late in the game and nothing structural was damaged.

"It was just a flesh wound, he just opened up his shin," Wellman said.

"We thought it was an ankle or a knee or something like that but luckily for us and for Leroy it was just a flesh wound so he'll be fine."

Ruckman Tom Bellchambers played only one half during the game while 18-year-old Ariel Steinberg had a knee problem.

"Ariel has just jarred a knee so we won't really know a lot until tomorrow," Wellman said.

"There's no real major concerns and hopefully Ariel will be only a couple of weeks at worst case scenario.

"Tom Bellchambers had always planned to play only a half because he's been crook during the week on the community camp."

Meanwhile, ruckman David Hille and defender Tayte Pears, who had a serious bruised pancreas injury last season, are also improving steadily.

"David has started running - he had a calf injury - and we expect to be able to prepare him and play a few games leading into round one," Wellman continued.

"And Tayte Pears is the other one - he's back running. He's still got a long way to go on his program but we hope to see him early in the season."

Wellman hinted that versatile key position player Michael Hurley could be used more in attack this year.

"He's certainly proven I think in his short career that he can play key back," Wellman said.

"He's been really impressive as a key forward but he's probably got more to learn in that area of the ground because he hasn't played there as much.

"He's got a real presence out on the ground and the more we can play him and expose him to the forward line the better we think he'll be and the better we'll be."

In general the club was impressed with the hit-out ahead of the NAB Cup series starting this weekend.

"I think it's good for the guys to start playing games but they're hard to gauge, intraclubs," Wellman said.

"We've got some areas to improve but I think the guys are looking forwards to testing themselves against some real opposition.

"We think a lot of our younger players are improving but we are looking for improvement across the board.

"But I certainly think they guys who are into their second years like Jake Carlisle and Jake Melksham and guys like David Zaharakis - I think you'll see them really improve sharply."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP