GEELONG ruckman Hamish McIntosh is likely to miss the rest of the season after having ankle surgery on Tuesday.
McIntosh, who is yet to play a game for the Cats after being recruited from North Melbourne during last year's trading period, had been troubled by ankle soreness for a number of weeks.
"Hamish had been experiencing pain in his ankle that wasn't responding to treatment as hoped," the club's football manager Neil Balme told geelongcats.com.au.
"We sent him in for a scope to see if we could find the source of the problem and thankfully they did.
"The surgeon found the problem to be around his subtalar joint. The outcome was the best-case scenario for Hamish."
The surgery is another blow for McIntosh, who had a major knee operation last August, and then battled Achilles soreness over the summer.
The 28-year-old sent out a tweet after his latest operation, which read: "It's been a tough cpl years no doubt, Will stay strong and work hard to get my body right, thanks for all the support #gocats."
The Cats are hopeful McIntosh will return to training before the end of the home and away season.
"We're at the point now where Hamish's knee and Achilles problems are behind him and now, after the surgery, so should be his ankle issue," Balme said.
"We imagine Hamish should be back running in three to four weeks time."
Adam McNicol covers Geelong news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter at @AFL_AdamMcNicol
