Star Magpie Jordan De Goey will be sidelined for "a couple of months" with a finger injury, Collingwood GM of Football Geoff Walsh confirmed.
De Goey suffered the injury during the Pies' win over Geelong last week but played out the game.
Scans revealed tendon damage that required surgery in a major blow to Collingwood's campaign.
De Goey will be racing the clock to return this year given there are 10Â rounds remaining in a condensed fixture.
“He had surgery the morning after the game. He was discharged from hospital on the same day over here in Perth,” Walsh told Collingwood’s website.
“It’s a pretty significant injury, the tendon, the flexor tendon.
“It will be a couple of months before we see Jordy back in action. It looked fairly innocuous, but they are serious injuries to the tendon.
“It’ll be a fair while before we see him back unfortunately.”
The star forward is out of contract at the end of the season.