Melbourne co-captain Jack Viney's toe injury will sideline him for at least a month in a big blow to the Demons' AFL finals hopes.
Viney was a late withdrawal from Saturday's win over the Western Bulldogs after he reported soreness in the same toe that cut his 2017 season short and sidelined him until round nine this year.
The 24-year-old had surgery to relieve plantar fasciitis in his right foot last year but was dogged by complications that included a stress fracture in his big toe.
"I'll miss at least four weeks at this stage," Viney told reporters on Monday.
"It's the same bone in my foot. I've been here before, but we're probably at a much earlier stage ... I had a full stress fracture back in the pre-season and this is just a hot spot with early signs of bone stress.
"We're onto it much earlier so hopefully that means I won''t miss as much football"
Viney has previously conceded he returned too quickly from surgery last season - he missed just two games - and the club will be at pains not to repeat the error.
The Demons sit outright sixth on the ladder and are right in the hunt for their first finals appearance since 2006 with just six rounds to go.
Viney will spend the next fortnight avoiding putting any strain on his foot in the hopes the bone can heal.
"Going into the Freo game (in round 16), I was a little bit aware of it," he said.
"I made the decision that if I felt like that the week after, and it hadn't got any better, then we'd look in to it. The day before we played the Doggies, I wasn't feeling too flash.
"I got all of the necessary scans and got onto it early.
"I'm not down in the dumps. I understand this is part of the sport and hopefully I'm only missing four weeks.
"There is the chance that we can play post-season, and I'll certainly be using that as a bit of motivation."
