Essendon defender Tayte Pears will have season-ending surgery this week in a bid to overcome a heel injury.
The 24-year-old has played 68 AFL games, but has not seen any senior action in 2014.
“Tayte all season has had trouble with what we call a Haglund’s deformity which is a spur on the heel so he is getting some rubbing on the tendon,” club doctor Bruce Reid told the club’s website on Monday.
“In the end because he is stopping and starting he can’t establish himself so he is going to surgery to that because it is a fairly prolonged recovery.”