MELBOURNE veteran Daniel Cross is expected tomiss up to six weeks with a broken leg.

In further disappointing news on the injuryfront, experienced forward Shannon Byrnes could also be ruled out for the restof the season with a lingering foot problem.

Cross, who has been a key part of the Demons'revamped midfield this season, sustained the injury late in the club's matchagainst North Melbourne on Sunday.

Amazingly, he played through the injury andcomplained he was sore after the game. The Demons sent him for an x-ray, but hewas given the all clear.

The extent of the injury was only revealed aftera scan revealed a small crack in his leg.  

Demons coach Paul Roos said the former Bulldogwould spend a minimum of a month on the sidelines.

"It's a small fracture in one of the bonesin the leg so it's a 4-6 week injury," Roos said at AAMI Park on Tuesday.

"That's not ideal for Crossy, he's been areally good player for us and pretty important.

"Hopefully he gets back in the shorter timeframe, but he'll certainly be out for a minimum of four."

Roos said it was disappointing news for Byrnes.

"Unfortunately Byrnesy's hurt his footagain so he looks like being out for the rest of the season. We're just gettingconfirmation on that which is not too flash," Roos said.

The injury to Cross and the one-week suspensionto Jordie McKenzie will force the Demons into at least two changes against theWestern Bulldogs on Sunday.

The club accepted the one-game ban handed toMcKenzie on Tuesday and Roos said the incident was out of character for theDemons' stopper.

"I always get disappointed. Particularlyfor a guy like Jordie who worked his way back through the seconds, I'mdisappointed for him," he said.

"Sometimes you scratch your head ... Ioften say 'Why do it?' It's unnecessary and it just costs him and it costs theteam.

"We're seeing coaches get more and morefrustrated by those little incidents."

Dean Terlich, who was the emergency for the gameagainst the Kangaroos, is likely to come into the selection frame for Sunday'sgame.

Viv Michie, Sam Blease and Jimmy Toumpas willalso be talked about by the match committee.

However, Roos was dissatisfied with theperformance of the Demons' VFL affiliate, the Casey Scorpions, which lost tothe Box Hill Hawks by 85 points.

"Without individualising, I was reallydisappointed with our seconds," he said.

"[Box Hill's] young players came to playand that was what really struck me when I watched the game last night."

"They were fantastic and we werepoor."