Essendon’s Nathan Lovett-Murray is fortunate to have escaped serious injury when stabbed in what the AFL club says was an unprovoked attack.

Lovett-Murray had surgery on Wednesday to repair the bicep muscle in his right arm after Tuesday night’s domestic altercation.

AFL talent manager Chris Johnson fears the stabbing of the 30-year-old will cast a negative slant on this weekend’s indigenous round.

But Bombers doctor Bruce Reid says the 143-game utility should be back training next week and could have been much worse off.

“It is a dangerous area of the body as there are a number of nerves and tendons around the bicep but, fortunately, he has avoided serious injury,” Dr Reid said.

“He did cut the artery in his arm and, as a result, has lost a fair bit of blood.”

A lot of blood could still be seen on Wednesday outside the house where the stabbing occurred.

The Bombers said it was the home of Lovett-Murray’s girlfriend and the altercation involved her ex-boyfriend, who is under a restraining order.

“Nathan was set upon by two men, and defending himself and his girlfriend, when the altercation occurred,” Essendon chief executive Ian Robson said.

Police arrested a 22-year-old man and a 17-year-old youth on Wednesday morning, but they were released without charge, pending further investigation.

Robson described Lovett-Murray, who has played just one senior game this year, as a “tribal elder in our dressing room” and said the incident alarmed fellow players.

“This sends a real shiver down everyone’s spine,” he said.

Johnson feared it would overshadow the positive aspects of the indigenous round.

“You’re always concerned for his health more than anything and hopefully he’s okay – that’s the biggest thing,” Johnson told AAP on Wednesday.

“But if we look at trends, the trend would be that most people will run with the bad news story rather than all the good stuff that’s going on this week.

“I hope that people can put it on the backburner and actually start looking at what the positives are instead of always the traditional negative stories all the time about indigenous people.”

Lovett-Murray was to have figured in several Essendon activities promoting Saturday night’s indigenous-themed Dreamtime at the ‘G clash against Richmond.

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said the stabbing was disturbing for the whole community.

But he doubted it would overshadow the indigenous round, although it was a shame Lovett-Murray couldn’t be part of the build-up.

“He couldn’t fulfil those duties and I know that would have been something he would have been disappointed in,” Demetriou said.