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Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has played down concerns over the fitness of Christian Salem but still expects the defender to be missing for several weeks.
The Demons began the 2022 AFL campaign with a 26-point win over the Western Bulldogs and are priced at 3/1 to go on and win back-to-back grand finals.
However the win did come at a cost with Salem picking up a knee injury following a crunching tackle with Bulldogs skipper Marcus Bontempelli just minutes into the clash.
Melbourne will have to wait and see just how long Salem will be out for but Goodwin did not sound too worried after the game.
"He'll have scans tomorrow," Goodwin told reporters after the game. "We're pretty hopeful it won't be too bad. We'll just wait and see on that. We're hopeful that it's not the worst possible news. It might be a few weeks, but the first indications are that it's not looking too bad."
Meanwhile Goodwin also gave an update on Jake Lever who failed a fitness test ahead of the clash against the Bulldogs.
Melbourne have a 10-day break before their round two clash against the Gold Coast Suns and Goodwin is hopeful Lever will make it.
"He tore his plantar fascia on Sunday," Goodwin added. "For people that don't know, that's a good thing. That gives him a chance to really recover, because it's been niggling him for four or five weeks now. We'll let that settle over the next 10 days until our next opponent.
"We'll see how he pulls up over the next four of five days. We're hopeful he might be available for next week, but we'll wait and see."
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