NORTH Melbourne AFLW star Mia King will miss the remainder of the season after suffering a serious neck injury in the side's victory over Brisbane last Saturday night.
King has remained in Queensland this week after sustaining the injury in an incident during the 11-point win over the Lions, undergoing an operation to the vertebrae in her neck earlier this week.
North Melbourne on Friday afternoon confirmed King had undergone spinal fusion surgery on a disc injury near her spinal cord, after reporting neck pain following the Lions game.
The surgery fused the C5 and C6 vertebrae - just above the base of the neck - together, with the talented 25-year-old midfielder to miss the remainder of the season as a result.
It's a devastating blow for King, who is one of North Melbourne's most important players but missed last year's Grand Final victory after battling a PCL injury to her knee throughout the second half of the season.
"We wrap our arms around Mia," Roos' AFLW boss Erin Lorenzini said.
"We are devastated for her, but also full of admiration for how incredibly strong she has been this week.
"As a proud Jawoyn woman she was particularly looking forward to wearing our Indigenous Round jumper in Launceston this weekend.
"We have a very close group of players and staff, and all our thoughts will be with her as we run out against the Bulldogs on Saturday."
The injury is not expected to prevent King from playing in the future.
"We will continue monitoring Mia in her recovery but we don’t expect this type of surgery to stop her from returning to play in 2027," Roos doctor Dr Victoria Norbury said.
King spoke to AFL.com.au in June about how she was "quite emotional" to miss the 2025 decider and revealed her absence from the victory was "one of the hardest things I've had to go through in my football career".