Ben Brown’s AFL season from hell is over with the North Melbourne forward likely to undergo knee surgery.

The North key forward was injured after an awkward tackle in the game against Geelong in round 10 early last month.

The Kangaroos announced on Wednesday he will be referred to a specialist for a possible arthroscopy, ruling him out for the remainder of the season.

“Our medical and strength and conditioning teams have worked very closely with Ben and had progressed him into some light running, but feel the best course of action going forward is to get a specialist’s opinion and have the knee fixed up if required,” said North football general manager Brady Rawlings.

“With only three games to go until the end of the year for us, some players have simply run out of time to get their fitness back up to the levels required to play, and Ben is one of those.”

Out of contract at season’s end, Brown has played nine games for the year but like his team has stuggled to find good form and was dropped earlier in the year.

Young midfielder/forward Curtis Taylor is also out for the remainder of the year after injuring his knee in a collision in round nine although the 20-year-old can avoid surgery.

A fifth consecutive loss in the form of a 63-point thumping from Gold Coast on Sunday night left the Kangaroos sitting second from bottom with three matches to play.