Melbourne's ruck crisis is finally over, with Jake Spencer set to return on Sunday against the Western Bulldogs and Max Gawn an outside chance to join him.
Makeshift ruck duo Cam Pedersen and Oscar McDonald have been holding the fort since Spencer went down with a shoulder injury in the round-five loss to Richmond.
Spencer's misfortune came only a fortnight after 2016 All-Australian Gawn suffered a serious hamstring injury which required surgery.
"Jake Spencer played really in the VFL on the weekend and Max Gawn is not too far away," said Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin on Monday.
"That problem is going to go away for us soon."
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On Sunday, Gawn flagged the prospect of returning ahead of schedule from an injury that had been expected to sideline him for 12 weeks.
"It's possible," said Goodwin.
"He's done an enormous amount of training over the last month.
"He's still got some important things he needs to tick off but we're hopeful.
"... if it's not this week then Max will be back the week after."
Even though Melbourne won the annual Queen's Birthday clash against Collingwood by four points, Magpie Brodie Grundy was clearly the dominant ruckman on the ground, especially in the first half.
Goodwin felt it was the first time the Demons had really been exposed by the lack of a specialist ruckman.
