Melbourne utility Aaron vandenBerg is out of AFL action for up to six weeks because of a heel stress fracture.
The Demons are confident vandenBerg will not need surgery.
He had a sore heel over the weekend and scans revealed the injury.
Melbourne football manager Josh Mahoney told the AFL website that vandenBerg would be out of action for four to six weeks, meaning he would definitely miss their big round-one match against St Kilda.
Sam Frost (toe) and Dean Kent (back) are also in doubt for the season opener.
But key forward Jack Watts can confirm his round-one selection when he returns to the senior team on Thursday night against West Coast.
Watts has been under the spotlight after the Demons had left him out of the team for their first two pre-season matches.
Co-captain Nathan Jones said Watts needed to maintain the standard he had set last year.
"From my point of view, Wattsy's had his career-best season last year," Jones said.
"The role of our coaches is to make sure we continue to strive and push our playing group to get better, both individually and as a team.
"Wattsy was encouraged to take another step.
"Being in the system as long as he had and performing as strongly as he did last year, the coaching group can still see there being a lot of potential in Wattsy and making him even better as a player."
Jones said Melbourne were a better team with Watts in their line-up.
"There would be a fair fire in his belly and, from our perspective, it's about him playing his role," the midfielder said.
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