MELBOURNE young gun Christian Petracca had surgery on an infected finger on Thursday and will miss Sunday's clash with Essendon at Etihad Stadium after being bitten by one of his dogs.

Petracca, 22, carried the injury through the 46-point loss to Richmond on Anzac Day Eve and collected 19 disposals.

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"Christian’s got a laceration on his finger from a dog bite last week," elite performance manager Dave Misson told the club's website.

"It was a reasonable size wound on his finger, but it was bandaged and taped for the game.

"But 24 hours post the game, it looked like it was becoming infected, so he went to see a doctor, and the doctor felt that he needed the wound to be cleaned out, which they did today (Thursday).

"But by today, that infection had gone into his bone and gone down to his finger joint – at the top of the finger."

Petracca will spend the weekend in hospital, but is likely to miss just one week and return to face St Kilda in round seven.

"The doctor felt it needed a decent wash-out in surgery, and the important thing is that the wound needs to stay open for three days to guarantee that that infection’s gone before they stitch it up," he said.

"Unfortunately, those three days coincide with the game, and the doctor actually wants him to stay in hospital over the weekend, just to make sure that the infection’s gone."

Sunday's clash looms as important in the context of the season, with the Dees and Bombers both sitting at 2-3 and struggling with their form.

Petracca owns two dogs – Cooper and Jax.