North Melbourne midfielder Ben Cunnington has suffered a setback in his impending return to football, with the midfield veteran suffering a calf injury in training as he ramped up his return preparation.

Cunnington, who has won two Syd Barker medals, had recently returned to the main training group after recovering from testicular cancer.

Despite the setback, North Melbourne head of performance Kevin White hasn’t ruled out a return for the fan-favourite this season.

“Ben had been in the middle of his increased loading block last week that included main training plus running conditioning sessions,” White told North Media.

“Unfortunately for Ben, on Saturday during his on-field re-conditioning session he felt his calf tighten up. Subsequent scans have revealed a strain.

“He’ll be off legs until the end of the week and begin to re-load once more from there.”

After being substituted out of last weekend’s clash with Adelaide, the Kangaroos will be without Bailey Scott for the coming games due to a hip injury.

Scott was removed from the game at half-time on the weekend having gathered five disposals and taken three marks.

White says while Scott will be unavailable for a few games, the issue doesn’t look too serious.

“He had an episode in the game where he lost power through his left hip flexor and he couldn’t continue after the second quarter, and scans on Monday revealed a strain to the hip flexor muscle,” he said.

“We’ll likely see Bailey miss the next couple of weeks in terms of availability while going through the recovery and rehab phase,” he said.

Young ruck Jacob Edwards was absent from North’s drought-breaking VFL win on the weekend, with the first-year player recovering from a viral illness.

He recently missed a number of games due to undergoing a reconditioning training block before returning for clashes with Box Hill and GWS.

Edwards is now primed to re-join the main group according to White.

“Jacob missed last week’s game with the Bullants recovering from viral illness,” he said

“He completed running conditioning and gym session on Saturday in at the club and will merge back in with the main group once more this week and be available.”

>> Click here for the full injury list, thanks to AIA Vitality

Exciting wing Jared Polec is edging closer to a return to main training as he continues to rehabilitate an ankle injury.

Polec took part in the Round 2 victory over West Coast and the Round 3 clash with Brisbane before suffering the injury, and has only recently returned to running.

“‘Polly’ completed two Alter G running sessions and 1 on-field running session last week,” White said.

“We’re looking at using the next 2-3 weeks to build his on-ground running loads, and progress agility and force absorption in preparation to bridge back into football training from there.”

Second-year midfielder Will Phillips has sadly been sidelined for the remainder of the season after failing to shake a bout of glandular fever.