Melbourne feared but Mitch Clark injury just a tweak

MITCH Clark strikes fear through Melbourne camp after tweaking his ankle at training.

Demon Mitch Clark at training.

IT wasn't only the small band of Melbourne supporters who groaned in shock when Mitch Clark went down with what appeared to be another injury to his troublesome right foot during a training session at Gosch's Paddock in Richmond.

Clark, who played only four games this year after suffering a aggravating the serious Lisfranc injury which kept him to 11 games in 2012, received treatment on the ground.

His teammates were also in shock went he hurt his foot after being tackled in a training drill by teammate Colin Garland.

Clark immediately pulled out of the drill and was treated by the medical staff before leaving the track early after testing his foot in a series of run-throughs

Melbourne's head of football Josh |Mahoney said Clark, who is on line to play in the opening round, didn't suffer any ongoing injury in the tackling drill..

"He just tweaked his ankle a little bit," Mahoney said.

"He ended up finishing the drill and finishing training as planned. It was always planned that he was not going to do the last drill.

"It was just one of those things and he was in a tackling drill and it's the sort of thing that happens to three or four players during training."

Mahoney said it was obvious that there was some sensitivity around Clark's foot which has restricted him to just 15 games in his two seasons with Melbourne after joining the club from the Brisbane Lions.

And Chris Dawes, who managed only 12 games after being recruited from Collingwood at the end of 2012, is back running after having knee surgery.

Mahoney said Dawes should be back in full training by the middle of next month and could be a chance for the opening round.