North Melbourne young gun Harry Sheezel will miss the first game of his AFL career as he deals with an ankle injury that could prematurely end his season.
The reigning AFL Rising Star winner hurt himself during the Kangaroos' defeat to West Coast last Saturday and will not face the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium this Sunday.
Sheezel debuted in round one, 2023, and has featured in all 44 games since being drafted.
"It's just a slight ankle, but he hasn't missed the game for us, 'Sheez' so it will be a bit different not having him out there," North coach Alastair Clarkson said on Thursday.
"We want to look after him because he's a really important player for us.
"We've taken every bit of precaution this week to just put him in a boot and just keep the weight off his leg.
"We were hoping to have a really quick bounce out of the first two or three days of this week, and then he might even be available for this week.
"But he rolled in (to the club on Thursday) still pretty sore."
The player North took a pick after him in the 2022 draft, George Wardlaw, will return, however, after the hard-nosed midfielder trained fully on Thursday.
Wardlaw missed the match against the Eagles due to concussion, but Clarkson said the 20-year-old had not experienced any lingering effects from the head knock suffering against Geelong.
It was the second time this season Wardlaw was placed in concussion protocols, after he missed two games (rounds 16 and 17) due to an accident at training.
"The incident in the back-end of the Geelong game, he didn't even know he was really concussed," Clarkson said.
"He thought he just got a whack to the jaw, and that's what he got assessed with after the game, and nothing to do with the concussion.
"Hopefully he just gets a good run now.
"In terms of the way that he plays, take that away from him, and it probably takes away a fair bit of his footy, so we'll let him just play organically and see how he goes."
Clarkson said North (3-18) were staying positive, rather than dwell on the negatives of losing to West Coast in a game they led by 35 points during the third quarter.
