MELBOURNE captain Nathan Jones is facing up to three months on the sidelines after committing to surgery to repair a neck injury.
Jones, 27, has struggled with the injury for most of the season, and at times had his strength and ability to compete compromised because of it.
He now won't take part in any contact training before Christmas, but is still expected to be free to play in next year's pre-season matches.
"There were a couple of options for us in terms of improving this, but we've decided that the best course of action is for Nathan to have an operation on a disc in his neck and this operation will happen next Monday," Melbourne football operations manager Josh Mahoney told the club's website.
"As you can imagine, an operation involving the neck and disc will require a lot of rehabilitation.
"Nathan will have a period of rest before gradually building up towards non-contact training pre-Christmas.
"All timelines at this stage suggest that Nathan will not be affected by his ability to play during the NAB Challenge series or the regular season."
Remarkably, Jones was able to play every game this season and is a favourite to win his fourth club best and fairest on Friday night.
The durable midfielder has missed just five games since his AFL debut in round 17, 2006.
