HERITIER Lumumba is facing a delayed start to pre-season with the Melbourne midfielder undergoing surgery on both ankles.

The former Magpie, who joined the Demons in last year's trade period, has already gone under the knife for stablisation surgery to his right ankle and is due to have an operation on his left ankle in the coming weeks.

Demons football manager Josh Mahoney told AFL.com.au Lumumba would join captain Nathan Jones (neck) in sitting out full-scale drills prior to the Christmas break.

"Lumumba will be on a rehab program up until Christmas time," Mahoney said.

"He won't do a lot of football training prior to Christmas and Jones is in the same category."

Rising star winner Jesse Hogan has also gone in for an operation on his finger and may be slightly held back when he returns to training in early November.

Hogan's finger will be kept in a splint for the next 4-6 weeks and he may have some limited ball handling early in pre-season.

Defender Dean Terlich had an operation on his thumb and joined Hogan for surgery on Tuesday evening.

Despite being spotted in a moon boot at the club's best and fairest count last Friday night, high-flying utility Jeremy Howe will not require any form of surgery.

The out-of-contract Howe, who is attracting serious interest from opposition clubs, sustained a toe injury in the final game of the season against Greater Western Sydney.

Jones, who had successful disc replacement surgery between his C5-C6 on Monday, is adamant he will be ready to go for the opening game of next season.

"One hundred per cent I’ll be right for round one," Jones told the club's website.

"I’ll probably spend two or three months of rehabbing and there will be a fair bit of tedious stuff in terms of strengthening my neck.

"After that, it'll be controlling the contact in training for two or three months … and I have to be pretty cautious. All going well, I'll be right [to play] two or three weeks before round one next year."

Mahoney said the Demons would take a conservative approach with Jones' rehabilitation, particularly with his involvement in contact drills in the early stages of his recovery.