Essendon is hopeful midfielder Justin Murphy will play in Saturday night's must-win AFL match against Adelaide, despite a knee injury.

Murphy suffered bone bruising in Sunday's win over the Western Bulldogs.

"It's just a bit of bone bruising, that's why the knee is so sore at the front," he told Channel 10.

"Everything else is okay structurally - the posterior and ACL are all good, which is a good sign."

Essendon has season-defining matches against the Crows and top side West Coast before its mid-season break.

"That's why I don't want to miss too many games at this time of year, because we've got the break coming up," Murphy said.

"If I miss these two weeks, I won't have played for three weeks."

Bombers football manager Dominic Cato said Murphy would undergo a fitness test later this week and was hopeful the onballer would miss a maximum of one game.

Meanwhile, St Kilda ruckman Jason Blake faces a fitness test on his injured leg ahead of Sunday's AFL match against slumping Port Adelaide.

An MRI scan revealed Blake had strained the superior tibial-fibula joint in his right leg.

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