Essendon forward Stewart Crameri could play in Saturday night’s AFL match of the round against West Coast after being cleared of serious damage to his knee.
The Bombers initially feared Crameri had suffered a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament rupture when he landed heavily in Saturday’s win over Brisbane.
But scans on Monday showed there were no structural injuries and he could come up for Saturday night’s clash against the unbeaten Eagles at Etihad Stadium.
“He’s just a strong boy and I think the doctors said he’s pretty lucky to come out of it without a major injury,” Thompson said on FoxSport’s AFL360 program.
“They’re pretty confident he’ll play this week – we’re not saying he is or he’s not.
“He’s going to have to do some work between now and then and improve a bit, but he’s a good chance.”
The good news is a major change of fortune for the Bombers, who have endured a bad run of soft-tissue injuries so far this season after a heavy emphasis on weights training through the summer.
Crameri has kicked 16 goals in the Bombers 5-1 start to the season and Thompson said the hearts of the coaching staff were in their mouths when he went down.
“We were very concerned – when that happens, the doctor is assessing the player and you’re trying to get to the doctor and say `what’s wrong, what’s wrong?’,” Thompson said.
“We had no idea, but it looked pretty bad … that looks ACL, sort-of posterior cruciate, it looks something significant.”
The Bombers are also hopeful that key forward Michael Hurley will return from injury against the Eagles, but Thompson made it clear they are desperate for Crameri to play if possible.
“We need him (Crameri) to play, we don’t have too many forwards left,” he said.
Key defender Tayte Pears, like Hurley, will undergo a fitness test after missing Saturday’s win, while Mark McVeigh and David Myers are set to come back from their soft-tissue injuries.
Thompson admitted that the Bombers had performed above expectations so far this season.
“Considering our injuries, we’re going better than we thought,” he said.
“We still come up every week and we still know we’re a long way to go.
“(There’s) a lot of teaching, a lot of improvement – so that’s a good thing.
“We’re more comfortable around the ball and we have that fighting spirit.”