St Kilda forward Darren Minchington has sustained a knee injury in the Sandringham's VFL intra-club match on Saturday that will keep him out for up to six weeks.
The 24-year-old suffered medial ligament damage to his right knee as he becomes just the second Saint to be out of contention through injury for round one.
Thankfully the scans showed it wasn’t as serious as it could have been and he should be back training in a few weeks, which is a positive," Football manager Simon Lethlean said on the club's website.
"Darren was just starting to hit his straps over the past month after missing a large chunk of the second half of the 2017 season with an ankle injury."
Minchington, who played just five games last season after suffering an ankle injury, was looking to lock down one of the small forward roles in St Kilda's forward line which has a bit of uncertainty over it heading into their round one clash with Brisbane.