NORTH Melbourne defender Jess Sinclair hopes the club will ultimately benefit from his six-week injury layoff, having earmarked two young Roos to battle for his position in the senior side.
Sinclair looks unlikely to play before round four of the home-and-away season after undergoing surgery to re-attach ligaments in his right thumb.
While the 29-year-old is disappointed to have suffered the injury in Saturday's NAB Challenge clash with Fremantle, he is optimistic some of the club's young guns will receive valuable experience as a result.
"I reckon Gavin Urquhart, the young kid from Queensland [could stand up]," Sinclair said, after being released from hospital on Tuesday.
"He's played the NAB Cup and the last two practice matches and he's been very impressive.
"Also Lachlan Hansen, he's our No.3 draft pick from two years ago, and he's also played every game and looks very positive.
"I reckon one of those two will most likely step up and hopefully they can play a role."
Sinclair said it was frustrating to hear how severe the injury was, after initially believing the joint was merely dislocated.
"I basically received a handball and tried to do a blind turn, and I tripped on someone on the way through," he explained.
"I lost my balance and fell, and as I went down on the ground, I had the ball in one hand and I've just put my other hand out for balance. My thumb got caught on the ground and all my weight came down on it.
"It was dislocated at the start, and you usually just put them back in and you're right to go again, but when I couldn't move it, the doctor said I'd done my ligaments and I would be out for a while.
"It's so frustrating, doing the whole pre-season and then coming up to round one and I'm going to not be playing."
Sinclair had screws inserted into the thumb and the ligaments reattached, and expects to be running again in "about a week", given the swelling subsides. He will also "more than likely" wear a hand guard on return to the game.
The former Docker will now effectively re-start his pre-season training, with the nature of the injury initially restricting him to mainly fitness-related drills.
"They are the worst injuries to have because you can do just about everything but touch the footy, which is very painful," he said.
"I've done a pre-season and it looks like I'm going to be doing another one in the next couple of weeks."
To see Jess Sinclair's press conference in full, click here.