Jesse Hogan's season-ending foot injury threatens to derail Melbourne's AFL finals campaign but the key forward is confident it won't harm his long-term future.
Hogan was injured during Sunday's loss to Sydney and scans have revealed he has suffered a partial stress fracture in the navicular bone in his foot.
Melbourne sit seventh on the ladder and are no certainties to make the top eight with tough games against West Coast (away) and GWS to come.
The Dees are yet to beat a top-eight side this season from five attempts.
Hogan will not require surgery but the Demons will take no risks with an injury that is notoriously difficult to recover from.
Former Melbourne captain Jack Trengove's career was ruined by a navicular injury - the same issue that sidelined Essendon great James Hird for the better part of three seasons and forced GWS ruckman Shane Mumford into an early retirement.
Hogan was hopeful the injury had been picked up early enough to prevent it from becoming a serious threat to his career.
"It's just a crack so it's not disastrous. It didn't crack all the way through, thankfully," Hogan told reporters on Tuesday.
"I think the club has been able to deal with a fair few of them. The fact that we caught mine early is a good sign and ruling the season out, it gives us that bit of extra time.
"There's no real time-frame to rush back in and potentially turn it into a six-month, 12-month injury."
Melbourne fitness boss Dave Misson said he expected Hogan would be available for the start of next year's pre-season.
Hogan was sidelined by a back injury for a year before debuting in 2015, while he also missed games last year after having surgery to treat a form of testicular cancer.
"Footy's a cruel game at times ... but you can't sit here and think you're going to have a perfect run," Hogan said.
"It's unfortunate obviously but I'll stay positive and tick off the next box and go from there."
In more bad news for the Demons, rebounding defender Jayden Hunt will miss up to a month with an ankle injury sustained in the loss to the Swans.
Bernie Vince (shoulder) will miss six weeks while co-captain Jack Viney (toe) won't play unless Melbourne make the finals.
Former Essendon duo Michael Hibberd (quad) and Jake Melksham (hamstring) will return to face the second-placed Eagles at Optus Stadium on Sunday.
Ruckman Max Gawn is expected to play despite being clearly hampered by a corked calf in the game against Sydney.
