North Melbourne father-son draftee Cooper Harvey has had his rookie season cut short following shoulder surgery while emerging midfielder George Wardlaw has entered this weekend's selection frame after missing time due to a hamstring concern.
Harvey, the son of AFL games record-holder Brent, has been spritely for the Roos since making his AFL debut against Geelong in Round 17, playing three games before this unfortunate setback.
Over the course of the last fortnight, Harvey is understood to have experienced multiple partial shoulder dislocations, leading to the medical team's determination that Harvey undergoes surgery, ruling him out of the remainder of the 2023 season.
North Melbourne performance boss Kevin White explained the circumstances surrounding Harvey, noting the youngster's surgery was performed on Monday.
"Cooper had a couple of minor subluxation (partial dislocation) incidents over the past two weeks which led to some follow-up investigation imaging which showed chronic changes to the shoulder joint," White told NMFC Media on Tuesday.
"Given the ease of these incidents occurring and the imaging assessments by club doctors and surgical experts, the club put Cooper in for shoulder surgery which successfully took place Monday.
"This will give Cooper greater stability to that structure when he recovers and will enable him to get a strong base of running conditioning in across early pre-season."
George will test to prove his fitness for Cunners' farewell match, but Cooper's first season has come to a close following shoulder surgery.#Kangas
— North Melbourne FC (@NMFCOfficial) August 8, 2023
As for Wardlaw, who exited North's Round 18 bout with Hawthorn due to hamstring awareness, the first-year midfielder is a chance to return against Essendon this Saturday.
"George absorbed a footy conditioning session over the weekend and will freshen up in the early part of this week to put him in the best position for game availability this weekend," White said.
The Roos' Saturday meeting with the Bombers, Ben Cunnington's last AFL appearance before retirement, is scheduled for 1:45 PM (AEST) at Marvel Stadium.
