The immediate future of North Melbourne veteran Daniel Wells is under a cloud after he had surgery on his troublesome Achilles tendon on Tuesday.
Wells has played just two games in 2015, his last in round two.
The silky midfielder has managed only 12 games since the end of 2013, also because of foot issues.
However, North Melbourne director of football Geoff Walsh was optimistic that the operation would fast-track Wells' recovery rather than hinder it.
"He's been working pretty hard and we've had good advancement, but then that advancement has been coupled with a couple of days of stagnation in terms of the progress," Walsh said.
"It's been frustrating for him and frustrating for us so the latest advice was that a minor procedure around the Achilles would probably alleviate pain he has been suffering and hopefully get the progress that we both want.
"This is a procedure that had been considered for a little while and I suppose everyone's reluctant to actually go under the knife whatever the surgery is, but the advice is this should fast-track his recovery rather than set it back, so we're very hopeful that advice is correct."
Walsh did not rule out Wells playing again this season and said the best-case scenario would have him training in seven to 10 days.
"As long as that's all on track, we're pretty hopeful that then we can ramp up and get back to some of the levels that he was achieving spasmodically in the last month, but having some setbacks through the pain," Walsh said.
