Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has slated a round 17 return for gun midfielder Clayton Oliver, whose absence is hurting the Demons "on two fronts" according to Matthew Lloyd.
Oliver suffered a hamstring injury in round 10 and is now dealing with tightness in the muscle, while his comeback was also delayed when he was hospitalised with an infected foot blister after going in a spa.
Melbourne will again be without the triple All-Australian for its clash with GWS in Alice Springs on Sunday, with the club expecting to welcome him back for its game against St Kilda at Marvel Stadium the following week.
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"It hurts them on two fronts. When you miss this amount of match football you need a mini pre-season to get yourself going again," Lloyd said on Nine's Footy Classified.
"And also, Tom Sparrow has been his replacement at the centre bounce. It's a real drop-off in terms of what Oliver does for them, and their depth has been a real issue for them through that midfield."
Goodwin shed light on Oliver's frustrating hamstring injury as he addressed the media on Thursday.
"There's no doubt it's tracking in the right direction from a hamstring perspective, but the scan did show that it was pretty much what Clayton was feeling — that he couldn't get to maximum speed because it still wasn't fully healed yet," Goodwin said.
"We're working with Clayton around that.
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"He clearly won't play this week, but he will train today (Thursday). He's tracking in the right direction.
"We'll try and tick off his max speed next week, which he needs to hit to be available to play, and we're hopeful without any other setback and him continuing to feel better that he'll play the following week."
The Demons are placed fourth on the ladder and will take on GWS, St Kilda, Brisbane and Adelaide over the next month.
The Melbourne-Brisbane contest scheduled for round 18 will likely be a top-four showdown, although the Demons' hold on fourth place is fragile; Melbourne, St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs are all on 28 points.
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