North Melbourne is confident that gun defender Scott Thompson will be fit for round one despite suffering an injury relapse that required surgery.
Fellow defender Sam Wright has also gone under the knife after suffering persistent ankle problems and his recovery is likely to take longer than Thompson's.
Thompson has been extremely consistent across his 179-game career. Only twice has he played fewer than 20 games in a season, since his debut year.
He did, however, miss three of the Kangaroos' last four games of the season due to an adductor strain in his groin, which has once again flared up.
"Scott had a slight tear in his adductor repaired in order to get him back fit and firing," North Melbourne football manager Cameron Joyce told the club website.
"Scott will also have a delayed return to full training, but we're confident he'll be right to hopefully play in the pre-season competition and be ready for round one."
Wright hasn't featured in the senior team since round 11 and his ankle problems kept him out of all VFL games bar one after that point.
Despite returning to pre-season training on a modified program, he continued to suffer soreness in his ankle and required more surgery.
"Sam's pre-season will obviously be impacted, which is certainly not ideal, however we're really confident he'll be available to play and have an impact in the early stages of our 2017 season," Joyce said.