MELBOURNE midfielder Aaron vandenBerg has suffered a setback in his recovery from a heel injury, and will miss at least another eight weeks.

The tough onballer suffered a stress fracture in his heel in March, and the Demons took the option of putting him in rehab and trying to let it recover at a natural pace.

However, the midfielder has been troubled by the injury in his attempts to increase his running load over the past few weeks.

Demons elite performance manager Dave Misson said the club would explore all of its options before making a decision on vandenBerg's return to the field.

"That heel just isn't settling the way we'd like, unfortunately for Aaron," Misson told the club's website.

"We're just going to get a couple more opinions and just make a decision on where we’ll go from there.

"It's an unusual injury and very difficult for him. It's another disrupted season, but we're hoping to get some good information in the next week or so and organise a plan of attack from there."

All Australian ruckman Max Gawn (hamstring) has had his return date pushed back slightly, despite his stated aim of returning in round 12.

Back-up big man Jake Spencer (shoulder) is slightly ahead of Gawn in his rehab program, but in a positive sign, both big men are back running at decent speed.

"Maxy, like Jake Spencer, is doing some really good work in rehab. Both of them are pretty close. Jake is probably a little bit ahead of Max. But again, they're doing a lot of running and racking up a lot of kilometres," Misson said.

"They’ve started doing some ruck work in their rehab, so they're tracking really well."

As had already been flagged, star forward Jesse Hogan has returned to Perth following surgery and will continually be assessed after his testicular cancer diagnosis.

"Jesse saw the surgeon on Monday and he was really happy with how the wound looked and with how the operation went," Misson said.

"He's headed back home for a few days of 'R and R' (rest and recuperation) with his family, so we'll touch base with Jesse when he comes back on the weekend."

Meanwhile, youngster Pat McKenna has had surgery to repair his troublesome hamstring, with the former Giant expected to return some time in August.

"Paddy had a setback last Saturday in his rehab," Misson said.

"We decided to go ahead with surgery, which he had last Thursday. So at least we've got some definitive timelines around Paddy now, which will be 10 to 12 weeks."