Ryder Out For 3 Weeks

Popular Essendon $323k defender Paddy Ryder will miss the rest of the DreamTeam season due to a 3 week knee injury sustained on the weekend.

Ryder, who is owned by almost 50,000 DT coaches, injured the muscle behind his knee late in the Bombers' thrilling win over St Kilda on Sunday.

"There was some concern that Paddy had sustained ligament damage so we are happy to learn his injury isn't anything more serious," Essendon footy operations manager Paul Hamilton said.

"Unfortunately he will miss at least a couple of weeks as the muscle behind his knee heals which is obviously a blow for the side."

There was other injury news from Windy Hill today, with $224k defender Courtenay Dempsey ruled out for 2 weeks with a hamstring injury. $307k defender Dustin Fletcher has been cleared of any serious damage to his hamstring, but is in doubt for the weekend's match with Freo, while Bachar Houli will miss the rest of the season with a fractured fibula.