Melbourne are sweating on the extent of a foot injury suffered by gun forward Mitch Clark in the Demons' 78-point win over Greater Western Sydney on Sunday.
Clark, who booted four goals in the first term, left the field midway through the second after copping a heavy knock in a collision with team-mate James Magner.
At first it looked as though he was concussed, but coach Mark Neeld revealed it was actually a problem with his foot.
A serious injury would be a bitter blow for Melbourne with Clark one of the few shining lights so far this year with 29 goals in his 11 matches.
"We thought we could get him up and going at half-time. He stayed in the rooms and did a few run-throughs," Neeld said.
"He was a little bit sore so we'll just monitor him as the week goes.
"I thought it was in that incident, but I could very well be making that up because I haven't spoken to the doctor about when.
"All I know is he has a sore foot."
With Clark out of action, Neeld again turned to players who normally find themselves at the other end of the ground.
Jared Rivers, who had kicked just six goals in his previous 139 matches, spent almost the entire game up forward and delivered with four goals, while Colin Garland bobbed up with three after moving to attack following Clark's injury.
Neeld doesn't expect both players to become permanent fixtures up forward, but is impressed by the versatility of his side.
"There's a certain way we want to play and a certain structure we want to play to and for this week those two guys served those roles really well," he said.
"Footy evolves pretty quickly, I'm not sure whether they've got long-term positions there.
"The thing that I can say is modern footy - the ability to play a number of roles within a game ¬¬- is really important and if we can develop that as a club that's a reasonable thing for us moving forward."
"Across the board we had 10 goal kickers, a number of people were targets inside 50 and if we can get that chemistry of a number of players being able to go through there it just makes thing a bit more difficult for the opposition."
Neeld also said he enjoyed the 'theatre' surrounding Tom Scully with the Demons fans booing their former player every time he went near the ball.
"That stuff is all part of the theatre that is AFL footy, these guys are professional full-time players," he said.
"The reality is players change clubs all the time, coaches change all the time. It's good theatre to be honest and the stuff that was said pre-game, it is what it is.
"We'll play our little part and the fans will play their part and away we go."