Superstar Melbourne midfielder Clayton Oliver has been ruled out of the Demons' Round 16 clash with the GWSGiants on Sunday afternoon, as he continues to battle multiple ailments, while defender Michael Hibberd will also be absent this weekend after suffering a kidney injury against Geelong last Thursday.
Oliver, who was also recently hospitalised for a dastardly foot infection, is recovering from hamstring tightness and has missed each of Melbourne's past two games.
The Demons' football boss, Alan Richardson, provided the latest on Oliver on Monday.
"Clayton had follow-up scans on his hamstring last week, those scans - in combination with some of our objective markers - have shown he's not quite ready to progress through the final stages of our return-to-play program," Richardson told MelbourneFC.com.au.
"He's continuing to integrate into team training as we continue to build him through those final stages of his hamstring rehabilitation program."
Richardson added an update on the ailing Hibberd, who hurt himself during a contest last Thursday evening.
"Unfortunately for Michael, during one of the early contests in the game he suffered an injury to his lower ribs," Richardson said.
"Following further imaging, it's shown that he has minor damage to his kidney, which will require him to be limited from contact for a short-term period to allow healing.
"Once we get clearance from the medical professionals we've been consulting with, he'll re-integrate into contest work."
While the news is mostly negative for Melbourne, Tom McDonald, who recently underwent ankle surgery, has resumed running activities.