MELBOURNE midfielder Aaron vandenBerg's season is almost certainly over after surgery on a troublesome heel injury on Tuesday.

The tough onballer was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his heel in March, with the Demons taking the option of putting him in rehab and letting the injury heal at a natural pace.

However, the tough nut has been troubled by the injury in his attempts to increase his running load over the past few weeks and the Demons decided surgery was the best route.

"Aaron's actually in Sydney having an operation today so we'll see how that goes," Melbourne elite performance manager David Misson said.

"Unfortunately we don't expect him to get back this year, but we'll just see how the operation pans out."

The 25-year-old has not played a game for Melbourne this season after being a semi-permanent fixture in the Demons' side in 2016.

Out of contract at the end of the season, vandenBerg was also limited by an ankle injury he first suffered in his debut season in 2015 that hung around for the early part of 2016.

VandenBerg had ankle surgery last September to correct the problem and looked set for a consistent year until the heel injury flared.

The Ainslie product has played 28 games in two seasons for the Demons after being selected with pick No.2 in the 2015 Rookie Draft.