Collingwood star Jordan De Goey might not return to the Magpies’ team until the AFL finals after having finger surgery.
The dynamite forward suffered the injury to his right middle finger during the final stages of his five-goal best-on-ground performance against Geelong last Thursday.
Magpies football manager Geoff Walsh says De Goey is likely to miss at least two months.
With the AFL to jam the next four rounds after this weekend into a 20-day block, it places De Goey’s potential comeback in the back-end of the season.
“He had surgery the morning after the game (and) was discharged from hospital the same day,” Walsh said.
“Pretty significant injury, the flexor tendon. It will be a couple of months before we see Jordy back in action.
“It looked fairly innocuous but they are serious injuries. It will be a fair while before we see him back, unfortunately.”
Last week’s clash was De Goey’s first game back after missing Collingwood’s round-six win against Hawthorn at Giants Stadium.
The 24-year-old flew straight from Melbourne to Perth instead of joining his teammates in NSW after he was charged with indecent assault over an alleged incident from 2015.
The loss of De Goey is another major injury blow for the Magpies, who are also preparing to be without star defender Jeremy Howe (knee) for the rest of the season.
Two-time best-and-fairest winner Steele Sidebottom has one game left of a four-game suspension for breaching COVID-19 protocols.
Travis Varcoe (rib) is also unlikely to play in the Magpies’ blockbuster match against West Coast at Optus Stadium on Sunday.