MELBOURNE will again be forced to reshuffle its defence with versatile backman Joel Smith to have surgery on Sunday night and be sidelined for up to five weeks after breaking his right collarbone against Gold Coast at the MCG on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Demons coach Simon Goodwin ruled co-captain Jack Viney out for the rest of the home and away season as he continues to battle a troublesome foot injury, while forward Jake Melksham (hamstring) is considered a 50-50 proposition of facing Sydney next Sunday.

Smith's right shoulder was driven into the ground in a tackle in the fourth quarter of the Demons' 96-point thumping of the Suns. The youngster has already had an operation on his left shoulder after he suffered a dislocation in his debut in round one last season.

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"He's got a broken collarbone so he's headed to hospital already and he'll have surgery tonight," Goodwin said.

"So we're probably looking at anything between three and five weeks, so we'll see how he pulls up from the surgery and obviously our medical team do a good job so we'll get him assessed and get him back on the park as quick as we can."

Goodwin admitted he was unsure how the defensive set-up would look with Lever and Smith out of the line-up, but said there were players in line to fill the vacancies.

"That's something we'll go away and have a look at. Our coaches have done a really good job of adapting to some personnel (issues)," Goodwin said.

"We've got some guys that are coming back from injury. Jayden Hunt played his first game back from (an ankle) injury, we had Bayley Fritsch down there (in defence) late in the game and we've repositioned Cam Pedersen as a key defender in the VFL and he's playing some outstanding footy."

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Michael Hibberd (quad) is still at least one more week away and won't be available for the game against Sydney next Sunday.

Viney will not be seen until the finals should Melbourne feature in September, with the Demons deciding to take a cautious approach with his worrisome foot injury.

"We'll start reloading him shortly but he won't be available unless we're fortunate enough to get through to the finals," Goodwin said.

"His whole preparation will be around that so we'll just have to wait and see."

The tough midfielder recently attempted to increase his training load but was forced to park that plan when he began to feel sore through the foot.

Viney's issues began last season when he developed bone stress in his right foot following surgery on his plantar fascia.

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Goodwin was unsure whether Melksham would play against the Swans.

"He ran Saturday and he'll increase his speed early in the week so we'll have a better indication come Tuesday on where Jake is," Goodwin said.

"We certainly won't take any risks with Jake but in saying that if he progresses through his rehab well and he's available then he'll play."

Goodwin said he was pleased for star forward Jesse Hogan to reap the rewards against the Suns and bag four majors in a strong performance after recent talk that he had been off the boil.

"I've been interested in that commentary. He certainly hasn't kicked the goals in recent weeks but what I have loved has been his ability to compete in outnumbered situations and bring the ball to ground," Goodwin said.

"That real competitiveness in his game and his willingness to keep going comes out in games like today where he gets his rewards."