NORTH Melbourne is sweating on scans to reveal the seriousness of Ben Brown's knee injury.
But the injury blow, which came in the first quarter of the Kangaroos spearhead's return to the side against Geelong on Wednesday night, also adds another layer of complexity to one of the most talked about out-of-contract players in the competition.
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Brown hobbled from the field early in the Roos' loss to the Cats at the Gabba, grabbing at his knee and was ruled out of the rest of the game.
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Coach Rhyce Shaw was hopeful the 27-year-old will avoid significant ligament damage but did not know the severity of the injury post-game.
"It was obviously bad enough to keep him out of the game when he went off, but I haven't had much chat with the medical staff at the moment," Shaw said.
"We'll make sure we get across that as soon as possible, but we just hope for the best with Ben."
Brown's battle for form became emblematic of the Roos' woes throughout their six-game losing streak this season, seeing him dropped for last week's win over Adelaide.
The spearhead has been carrying bone bruising at stages this season, in some way explaining his eight goals from eight games before Wednesday's clash, and had been recalled to the Roos' line-up due to the management of Nick Larkey (ankle).
Shaw said the Roos were keeping positive Brown had suffered no structural issues to his knee.
"He was up and about on the bench, which was a really good sign, but I haven't been told that there's anything too major," Shaw said. "We'll just have to see what that looks like during the week, but fingers crossed it's not too bad."
The injury adds a further dimension to Brown's situation at North as rivals wait to see what happens with the key forward's contract talks.
The club and forward, who booted more than 60 goals in the past three years, were engaged in discussions over an extension before the COVID-19 contract freeze was put in place in March.
That has now been lifted but the Roos' dip down the ladder – they have won three of 10 games this season and sit firmly in the bottom four – and Brown's dive in form have led to questions of his trade value as North embark on a list revamp.
He is one of 23 players out of contract at North Melbourne – the most of any club in the competition – and represents strong currency as Brisbane, Collingwood and Essendon scour the market for key forwards to add to their lists.
Despite his age Brown, who debuted as a 21-year-old, does not qualify as a free agent.
His importance to the Roos remained evident in his absence against the Cats, as they struggled for forward targets (they had only five inside-50 marks to Geelong's 14 and only two contested grabs for the night).
"He was really keen to go well, Benny, against a backline that's played together for a very long time and is really well structured," Shaw said.
"We needed all the bodies we could and Ben was certainly a main part of that without Nick Larkey and Curtis Taylor down there this week. That was really disappointing and put us on the back foot a little bit with our rotations."
