ESSENDON has confirmed star midfielder Devon Smith will have surgery on his troublesome knee and miss the remainder of the season.

Last year's best and fairest winner missed last week's win over Fremantle after suffering a new injury to his knee during the loss to Sydney.

He has carried a chronic knee posterior cruciate ligament injury in his knee from his time at Greater Western Sydney, and will have that operated on as well.

After consultation with a specialist, the club confirmed the midfielder would require surgery on his trochlear, underneath the kneecap. Smith had also suffered from PCL deficiency, so the decision was made to address both injuries through surgery.

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"The understanding we have is that he saw his surgeon last night and he will require surgery to fix his knee. He's got an acute injury, which has just happened, and he's also got his long-standing PCL injury that he's had for a couple of years," coach John Worsfold said earlier on Tuesday.

"We're just waiting on clarity around if they're going to fix both at the same time. That sounds like it's the way it's going to go, but we'll release something that's more clear this afternoon.

"If he has the PCL fixed as well, the old injury corrected, then that's a six-month downtime."

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It is a huge blow for the Bombers, who will miss Smith's dogged tackling and forward craft. He arrived at the club at the end of 2017 after 109 games with the Giants, and signed a four-year deal with Essendon.

All clubs chasing Smith after he departed the Giants were aware of his knee concerns, with some believing he would need surgery at some stage.

"It's disappointing for him. He's very disappointed he's not going to be playing footy for the remainder of this year, we're really disappointed for him, but we're really keen to get his knee fixed so he can play footy for a lot longer," he said.

"We were aware he had a PCL injury. A lot of players have played out careers with PCL injuries in the past so you never know what comes."

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In better injury news for the Bombers, they could regain key forward Shaun McKernan for this Saturday night's Dreamtime at the 'G clash against Richmond.

McKernan has recovered from a serious hamstring injury he suffered in round three against Melbourne when he booted four goals, and could be brought straight back into the senior team.

Forward Mitch Brown (wrist) and Martin Gleeson (cheekbone) are also expected to be available.