Curran played just three senior VFL games last season before undergoing season-ending surgery for a right navicular stress fracture last June.
The 19-year-old, who is the son of two-time Hawthorn premiership player Peter Curran, will now undergo a second operation on his right navicular.
"Tom's played a number of games (for North Ballarat) and has been feeling good but he had a return of his foot pain last week, so we investigated it straight away and it turns out we need to do surgery again," North medical services director Steve Saunders told NMFC.com.au on Monday.
"We need to re-orientate the screw in the bone and do a bone graft as well so it heals better. The old screw comes out and a new one will go in."
Saunders said Curran faced a 16-week rehabilitation after his surgery before he could return to full training.
"We think he'll be in a good position to start (the 2014) pre-season completely rehabilitated," Saunders said.
Nick Bowen covers North Melbourne news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Nick
