Beloved Melbourne midfielder Nathan Jones may have played his final AFL game after succumbing to an injury that is likely to end his season.
The former Demons skipper, who is out-of-contract at season's end, will be sidelined for up to four weeks after going down with a quad injury in his team's shock 21-point defeat to Sydney last Thursday.
With just three home-and-away matches remaining, Jones will need Melbourne to make a deep finals run to be any chance of playing again in 2020.
Jones has played the second-most games (293) in Melbourne's long history, with record-holder David Neitz (306) the club's only 300-game player.
It isn't just the 32-year-old who will miss the Demons' crucial clash with Fremantle at Cazaly Stadium in Cairns on Monday night.
Fellow hardnosed midfielders Angus Brayshaw (foot) and James Harmes (hamstring) will miss at least the Dockers game but could return for Saturday's game against GWS at the Gabba.
By losing to the Swans, the Demons blew a golden opportunity to consolidate their spot in the top-eight, which allowed the Giants to replace them in eighth on the ladder.
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin slammed parts of his team's performance as not up to AFL standard, but says the Demons moved on from the costly slip-up quickly.
"Our destiny's in our own hands of where the season's going to go from here," Goodwin told reporters.
"We can't look ahead to two weeks down the track, or next week. We've got to look at what's right in front of us, and that's Fremantle.
"We had a really short review, post-game. The players know the situation, they know their first half and they know that the level required wasn't there."