North Melbourne tall Callum Coleman-Jones will go under the knife on Thursday and miss the remainder of the 2024 season after rupturing his Achilles during the Good Friday SuperClash against the Carlton.
The No.21 fell to the Marvel Stadium turf in the opening minutes of the second quarter, suffering the same fate that teammate Josh Goater did in the opening round of the campaign.
"Cal will initially be in a heavy recovery/off-legs phase across the first couple of weeks," head of performance Kevin White told NMFC Media.
"'CJ', being the ultimate professional, will put everything into his rehab, ensuring he is well set up for a strong off-season."
In the VFL side's 16-point win over Carlton, young defender Riley Hardeman copped a blow to the head and failed to return to the field after a strong start.
"Riley suffered a head laceration and subsequent concussion symptoms came on a short period after the incident occurred," White said.
"He has recovered well in this early phase and will go through the AFL-mandated protocol which will see a progressive loading program across the 12-day period following the diagnosis."
Defender Bigoa Nyuon was also unable to finish the VFL game due to a significant calf corkie, but has pulled up well and will train with the main squad on Wednesday.
Miller Bergman (jaw) and Cooper Harvey (syndesmosis) are both in the post-surgery phase of recovery and are expected to return in three and five weeks respectively.
"Miller is in a strength and non-contact conditioning phase for the next 10-12 days before he progresses through to full-contact training, while Cooper will come out of the moon boot this week and commence calf loading and off-legs conditioning," White said.
A back complaint kept Curtis Taylor out of action over the weekend, but the winger will look to re-integrate into the main group's program next week.
"Curtis had a flare-up of an old back ailment that had restricted him early in pre-season which limited his function significantly last week," White said.
"Over the past few days he has made great strides in his function and is now moving pain free."
Griffin Logue has stepped up his program over the past fortnight and is "making huge strides in his speed, agility, and function training on-field".
"In two weeks once this current block finishes, we will look to re-test Griff’s athletic profile and strength markers with the hope of then building into lower-level group training drills if those markers targets are met," White said.
