MELBOURNE has received a bitter injury blow with in-form forward Harry Petty ruled out for the remainder of the 2023 season, however the imminent return of Clayton Oliver is likely to soften the blow.

Petty was subbed out during the third quarter of Sunday’s clash against the Kangaroos when his foot was caught in a tackle.

"Harrison had a significant rotational force through his left foot when it was caught in a tackle in the game on the weekend," GM of AFL Football Performance Alan Richardson says.

"Scans yesterday have confirmed a high grade Lisfranc injury. After consultation with specialists in the area, it was deemed that Harrison requires an operation to stabilise the joint which will require longer term rehabilitation. This will unfortunately mean he won’t be returning this season.”

Only the remainder of the week’s training sessions stand between Clayton Oliver and his AFL return, with Richardson as good as confirming the reigning club champion will take his place against the Blues.

Oliver hasn’t played since Round 10, with his troublesome hamstring taking longer than anticipated to fully heal.

“Pleasingly he's right to go this week, now we’ve still got a few training sessions but our expectation is that Claz will play,” Richardson says.

“It's been frustrating for him and probably frustrating for our fans that he hasn't been out there sooner. It was a challenging injury and we had to make sure that we treated it with the respect that that sort of injury requires.

“It's good the team have been able to keep performing well in his absence because he's such a good player. It's great to have him back and we're going to have a fresh Clayton Oliver leading into the finals, which is exciting.”

Tom McDonald also looks set to make his football comeback this weekend, helping offset the loss of Petty.

“Tommy will play this week at VFL level, and given what's happened to Harrison, that is potentially going to be good news for us, good news for the team and good news for Tommy.

“He's been pretty positive on the training track. It's certainly good to have him back.”

Fellow tall forward Ben Brown will miss with soreness.

“He's just a little bit sore in the knee Browny,” Richardson says.

“We didn't have a game in the VFL this week, the guys did a really significant training session which Browny didn't do.

“He’ll miss this week in the VFL so that we can get him right and get him physically back to his best so that he can have a real launch into the back end of the year and potentially put his hand up.”

Bayley Fritsch is also targeting a return as the home and away season comes to a close.

“Fritta is likely to be right at the back end of the home and away season,” Richardson says.

“Best case would be the last round and then we have the bye in between. So we'll see whether he needs to play there.

“He's tracking well, he's already been doing some running, some work off legs and some running on the de-loader so he's ticking every box at this stage.”

Rookie Demon Kye Turner could make his return after a long stint on the sidelines with a groin injury, while Daniel Turner is just one to two weeks away.

Blake Howes and Oliver Sestan remain ruled out for the season.