North Melbourne's encouraging NAB Challenge win over Hawthorn on Saturday came at a cost with fringe midfielder Ed Lower to miss up to two months after breaking his leg during the game.
The Kangaroos won the match at Eureka Oval in North Ballarat by 40 points, with star on-baller Daniel Wells impressing by kicking three goals and winning plenty of the ball despite spending less than half the game on the field.
But the good signs from Wells have been offset by the news that Lower, who has played 34 games since making his debut in the blue and white in 2006, fractured the fibula in his leg on Saturday and could be out of action until May, although he's set his sights on a much earlier return.
"I'm hoping to be back playing as soon as possible," Lower told kangaroos.com.au. "If I do everything that's required, I should be right for a return close to or just after Round 2."
The 22-year-old will don a moon boot for the next month and intends spending the initial stages of his recovery at home in Adelaide with his parents after suffering the injury in a tackle and then being stuck in Ballarat because of the wild storms that lashed Victoria on Saturday.
"I was tackling a Hawthorn player and as I swung around my lower leg collided with someone's knee," he added. "It just felt like I got kicked in the ankle but then it got progressively worse for the next few minutes and then I knew something was wrong."
"Doctor Con (Mitropoulos) narrowed it down to a few scenarios and I was supposed to go straight to the Epworth Hospital for scans but we couldn't get through to the city from Ballarat due to the storms. I basically had to wait until the Sunday to find out that there was a fracture there."
After playing 12 games in 2008 and another nine last year, Lower was facing a make-or-break year in 2010 but hopes this setback won't stop him cementing a spot on the club's list when he does return.
"I've never broken anything in footy before so it's pretty frustrating for me because I was planning to have a pretty big year and everything was going so well up until this point," Lower said.
Saturday's match also proved costly for the Hawks, with ruckman Simon Taylor to miss four months after breaking his leg and Brad Sewell likely to miss at least the opening couple of rounds after fracturing his collarbone.