Albury midfield star Fletcher Carroll faces a race against time to be fit and firing ahead of finals.
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Carroll suffered a hamstring injury in round 12 against North Albury which was expected to sideline him for three weeks.
But scans have since revealed that Carroll has a hamstring tendon tear and faces a longer stint on the sidelines.
Carroll has already missed the past two rounds and is hoping to be back in round 17.
"I was a bit shocked when the scan came back because I thought it was only a grade one or two tear," Carroll said.
"But I've actually torn the tendon which is a lot more serious.
"It's a bit of an unknown on how much footy I will miss.
"I've set myself to get back for the match against Yarrawonga which is the second last match before finals.
"It's not ideal and I certainly did a good job of stuffing my hamstring."
Carroll revealed former AFL player and team-mate Daniel Cross had been offering him advice on how to best recover.
Cross works for North Melbourne and is part of its high-performance staff.
"I've been speaking with Daniel and he said Aiden Bonar suffered a similar injury playing for North Melbourne recently," he said.
"He was able to get back playing in six weeks.
"So I've been following his recovery program exactly the same.
"Aiden is at an AFL club and was getting full-time treatment which I haven't got the same luxury of.
"But I'm hoping to get back in a similar time frame."
Albury sit in third spot with four rounds remaining and look destined to meet fierce rival Yarrawonga in the qualifying final in the opening week of the finals series.
There were six weeks from last weekend until the finals commence with round 15 a split-round.
"I'm confident I will be right for finals," Carroll said.
"I think I will be back earlier but if I didn't happen to play until the first final that would mean I've missed eight weeks."
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Carroll said he initially hurt his hamstring after playing interleague against the Goulburn Valley league in late May.
"Looking back, I think I originally tweaked my hamstring after the interleague match," he said.
"I kept playing with it but with hindsight it was a bit of a ticking time bomb.
"I played for a month with it but against North Albury late in the game it just went on me."
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