MELBOURNE star forward Jesse Hogan is at least a month away from returning to the field after being diagnosed with testicular cancer last month.
In bad news for the Demons, rookie forward Tim Smith will miss the rest of the 2017 season after injuring the navicular bone in his foot in Casey's win over Collingwood on Saturday.
Demons elite performance manager Dave Misson said the club would be patient with Hogan's comeback, after a disjointed season that has seen him play just four matches.
Melbourne has listed Hogan as 4-6 weeks away from playing in its official injury list.
"Jesse ran this morning and had a bit of a kick-around, so he's back at work essentially, but we're not putting a timeframe on when he starts to play again," Misson told the club's website.
"He'll need at least two or three weeks of running and probably a similar time of training, so we're just glad to have him back at the club."
Smith, who has made two senior appearances this season and suffered a punctured lung and broken ribs against Richmond in round five, will almost certainly be ruled out for the year.
"It was an incident in a marking contest and scans have shown that he's got a stress fracture in his navicular, which is more than likely going to be the season," Misson said.
"He'll see some specialists on Tuesday or Wednesday, as to whether we go down the surgical line or the conservative route, which is really bad luck for him."
A decision on whether ruckman Max Gawn will play against the Western Bulldogs on Sunday will be made later in the week.
Gawn has not taken to the field since sustaining a serious hamstring injury against Geelong in round three.
"Maxy's been doing some really good training and he's probably got a couple more boxes to tick this week," Misson said.
"We'll make a decision later in the week as to whether he plays this week, next week or the week after."
Melbourne injury list: round 13
Angus Brayshaw (concussion) – indefinite
Lochie Filipovic (hip) – 2 weeks
Colin Garland (knee) – season
Max Gawn (hamstring) – test
Jesse Hogan (testicular cancer) – 4-6 weeks
Pat McKenna (hamstring) – 6-8 weeks
Joel Smith (shoulder) – 2 weeks
Tim Smith (navicular bone) – season
Aaron vandenBerg (heel) – season
Tap here for the full round 13 injury list
