UPDATE: Melbourne ruckman Max Gawn will consult a surgeon on Monday to determine how long he'll be sidelined for after scans revealed "some tendon involvement" in the strain.
Melbourne originally said the big man would miss up to four weeks with a hamstring injury after sustaining the injury in the Demons' loss to Geelong on Saturday afternoon, but it's expected to be a much longer recovery time.
Demons football operations boss Josh Mahoney said surgery is a possibility, and now expects Gawn to be sidelined for more than the initial four weeks.
“The scans today showed that Max’s hamstring strain had some tendon involvement and as a result he will see a surgeon tomorrow to determine whether he requires surgery,” Mahoney said.
“At this stage, it’s too early to determine the exact length of time that Max will miss, however with the tendon involvement, we expect his recovery to be longer than your traditional hamstring injury.”
The incident occurred in the second term of yesterday's match, and post-game Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin thought the injury would see the big man ruled out for a month of football.
"From what we can gather it's just a standard hamstring, so normally they're four weeks so we'll be without the big fella for a while," Goodwin said.
"We'll have to find a way to come up with something that's going to work over the next few weeks. He's a big part of our team but I know our coaches are really keen on being adventurous and trying new things.
"We'll sit down during the week and assess what our best options are moving forward."
Gawn immediately left the field following the injury, and Goodwin now has a decision to make regarding the ruck position.
Jack Watts took over from Gawn for most of the remainder of the match and fought strongly, while second-string ruckman Jake Spencer put his hand up after playing for Casey in the VFL.
"He just stopped suddenly, so initially it was going to be his knee or his hamstring and thankfully it was his hamstring," Goodwin said.
"We'll get him assessed and get the full results tomorrow (Sunday). The medical team have done a terrific job with our group over a couple of years now so it'll be a standard four weeks and hopefully get him back as quick as we can.
"I thought he performed pretty strongly today, Jack.
"Certainly his second and third quarters were outstanding. It's a big role for him to play and I thought he fought on manfully today and he looked really good around the contest."
"Jake played [for Casey] today and he's the second ruck and the logical option, but we'll sit down during the week and assess what we're going to do," Goodwin said.
