North Melbourne expect big man Majak Daw to recover from knee surgery in time for the start of the AFL season.
Daw is expected to return to full pre-season training in a month after the ruck-forward underwent arthroscopic surgery last week.
"He's had an arthroscope last week just to tidy up a small medial meniscus tear," Kangaroos high-performance manager Steve Saunders told the club's website.
"It scanned a little bit worse than we actually found out it was.
"So we're looking at a timeframe for 'Maj' to return to full training in around four weeks."
The diagnosis puts the injury-prone 25-year-old in the frame for pre-season games ahead of the Kangaroos' round one clash with West Coast on March 26.
Daw injured his right knee while running during training last week.
He has managed just 25 games in four seasons.
But he has his best chance to cement his spot in the North Melbourne forward line in 2017 following the departure of stalwart Drew Petrie.
AAP