DANIEL Wells has had surgery on his troublesome Achilles tendon but North Melbourne is hopeful the star midfielder remains on track to return before the end of the home and away season.

North football director Geoff Walsh told NMFC.com.au that Wells had surgery on Tuesday morning to accelerate his recovery from the lingering Achilles injury that has sidelined him since the round two win over the Brisbane Lions.

"Daniel had a minor procedure around his Achilles this morning, more so to fast-track the recovery process," Walsh said.

"He's been working pretty hard and we've had some good advancement but then that advancement has been coupled with a couple of days of stagnation in terms of the progress.

"So it's been frustrating for him and frustrating for us.

"The latest advice was a minor procedure around the Achilles would probably alleviate the pain in particular that he's been suffering and hopefully get the progress that we both want."

North has desperately missed Wells' run and class ball use this season as it's slumped to a 6-7 record that has put its finals hopes in serious doubt.

Walsh said Wells' surgery should enable him to return to the field some time this year.

"The medical advice is that within a week to 10 days he should be ready to resume training," Walsh said.

"So as long as that's all on track we're pretty hopeful then that we can ramp up (Wells' training) and get back to some of the levels that he was achieving spasmodically in the last month."

Wells has had a horror run with injury recently, with a foot problem sidelining him for 14 games last season.

The No.2 pick in the 2002 national draft, the West Australian has played 224 games for the Roos and is a two-time best-and-fairest winner.