Fevola is eligible to face Bacchus Marsh on Saturday after serving a two-match suspension incurred in the final round last year, but is still recovering from Achilles tendon surgery in the off-season.

The Panthers have opened the year with losses to Melton and Sunbury, and deperately need the goalkicking ace back on the park.

Melton co-coach Ash Manning told The Courier on Wednesday that while a definite decision on Fevola’s availability had not been made, it was more than likely he would miss this week.

“He’s been a bit sore.”

He said with a break in the home and away season for the AFL Victoria Community Championships on Saturday, May 19, this would give Fevola another two weeks to ensure he was fully fit and right to go.

Melton South is away to North Ballarat City on Saturday, May 26, which will be only its fourth outing of the season and start of an uninterrupted run of 11 games.

The Panthers are desperately in need of having what will be a much trimmer Fevola back in attack.

His absence has forced a restructure, including switching ex-Brisbane Lions player Mitch Golby into a deep key forward role.

While Golby has kicked six goals in the Panthers’ two appearances, having Fevola back would free him up to play higher up the ground.

Manning said Golby had been recruited as a midfielder and Melton South would be much better with him in that position.

Manning said the stop-start nature of the Panthers’ start to the season was frustrating.

“It’s been a pain.”

They played the opening two weeks then had a bye at the weekend. They play again this week and then have another week off with inter-league.

He said it had been hard to get momentum on and off the track.

Manning said it was even more difficult after losses when all a team wanted to do was get out on the park again and make amends.

He said one upside to having breaks was players having time to get over niggling injuries.

Manning said Melton South would be looking to replicate what it did in the second quarter of its 17-point loss to Sunbury in round two across four quarterss against Bacchus Marsh.

The Panthers kicked 5.7 to wrest control from the Lions and take a handy lead, only to drop away in the second half.

Manning believes Melton South could have won if more accurate, but conceded “bad kicking is bad football”.

Aside from having Fevola potentially sidelined for another round, Manning’s biggest selection concern is a lack of size in defence and the issue this might cause against the likes of Bacchus Marsh’s Aaron Willitts and Jake Owen.

He said was looking at a couple of options to get some bigger bodies into the backline.