North Melbourne captain Andrew Swallow hopes he only misses one AFL game with a broken thumb.
The star midfielder suffered the injury during Friday night’s win over Essendon and he had surgery on Monday.
He will miss Saturday night’s big away match against unbeaten Fremantle.
“It depends on how the thumb pulls up and as long as it doesn’t swell up too much and it’s not too painful, I should be able to get out there next weekend,” Swallow said in a club statement.