KEY FORWARD Mitch Clark is remaining optimistic that his latest foot surgery will prove beneficial in the long run.
Clark will miss up to two months, after it was decided to remove the screw in his right foot.
“It’s a bit hard to say, but probably anywhere up to eight weeks,” he told melbournefc.com.au.
“At the same time, I’m definitely not going to rush it, because at the end of the day, I’ve had a pretty serious injury with my foot and I don’t want to have any further troubles with it.
“It’s been pretty frustrating, but hopefully this will be the last thing we have to do, and then we can move on.”
He said the decision to take the screw out of his foot, which was inserted just before Christmas, would ease the pain.
“Hopefully that’ll relieve some of the pressure that’s on my foot at the moment, and it’ll allow me to play free and uninhibited in the second half of the season,” Clark said.
Clark said he had been battling for the past “couple of weeks”, although he has missed only last round’s loss against his former side - the Brisbane Lions - at the Gabba.
“I’ve got a little bit of that stress and pain around my old injury, so we believe that the screw might be contributing to that,” he said.
“It’s not ideal to be having mid-season surgery, but in the big scheme of things, hopefully this will release the pressure off my foot, and it will allow me to play the second half of the season better and I’ll get a full pre-season in.”
Clark will have surgery around lunchtime on Wednesday, when the surgeon will remove the screw with a small incision.
“Hopefully the screw will come out nice and easy. I’ll probably be off my feet for a week or two, and then I’ll slowly build up with a program put together by the guys, and hopefully won’t be too long out.”
Clark said the foot was not 100 per cent when he initially returned the week before round one in a VFL practice match.
“The foot’s probably never felt back to being normal, but it got to a point where it allowed me to do what I needed to get up and play again,” he said.
“The last few weeks I’ve battled a little bit with it, so I’ve gone back to the surgeon, and this is one thing that we can try.
“Hopefully this is the last thing we’ll have to deal with, and I’ll be sweet from here.”
Clark acknowledged it had been difficult to play with a foot problem, but he didn’t want to use it as an excuse.
“Once you put yourself out on the park, you’re fit to play,” he said.
“I felt like I’ve been doing my job, but I probably haven’t reached the heights I did last year.
“Once I’m out there, I’m fit to play, but unfortunately it got to a point where I wasn’t able to play last week and I wasn’t able to get myself up. I’ll get this done and hopefully I’ll be right.”
Clark said the setback was “pretty tough”, but he is philosophical in his outlook.
“That’s part of footy, and there are a lot more people worse off than me at the moment,” he said.
“I’ll take the positive out of it - hopefully it’s a short stint out and I’ll be back for the second half of the year and finish off the year strong.
“Hopefully, I can have my first full pre-season at the Dees and that’s later down the track, but I’d like to get some more games in before the end of the year.”
Clark said he would take some time away from the club, before working hard in his rehabilitation.
“I’ll probably have a week off away from the club and just rest up and try and get over this surgery first of all. Then I’ll be back in here with the boys in rehab,” he said.
“It won’t be as long as the last stint, so that’s a positive and I’m just really keen to get back out there with the boys on the field.
“I feel a bit guilty that I’m not out there helping them out, so I can’t wait to get back out there.”