Myers, who has played less than a game during the past two seasons because of injuries and the Essendon supplements scandal suspension, damaged a tendon when he caught a finger on his right hand in the jumper of a teammate and was set for immediate surgery.

Bombers high performance manager Justin Crow said Myers was looking at another lengthy stint off the field.

"It means six weeks in a splint and then two weeks getting his touch back normally to then play football," Crow told the club website.

"The good news is it's his right hand so he'll be able to continue to guide the ball with his left hand and keep running over that period and maintain the really good training base he's been able to get this pre-season."

It is another blow for Myers, whose 2015 was ruined by a shoulder injury picked up within five minutes of the start of the season and then a fracture as a result of being kneed in the back in his return game in round 20. He played in last week's pre-season game against Collingwood, collecting eight possessions in less than three quarters.

This season is his 10th at the Bombers, the 27-year-old having played 85 games, with injuries – he was plagued by soft-tissue issues early on – meaning he has only reached double figures in only three seasons. He told Fairfax Media last year, after the banned players had been allowed to return to the club, that he had finished 2015 a dispirited person.

"I'd had a tough year with injury, obviously the club was struggling with the WADA appeal pending, and as the club delegate to the AFL Players Association and as part of our leadership group I took on more of a role in meetings with lawyers and that stuff, because I wasn't playing and was trying to give some of the other guys a chop-out. I think it all sort of caught up with me and I fell in a hole.

"That was probably the hardest time for me. Even after the CAS decision [in January this year], my worst moments were that last half of the year before."

However, he said despite losing a significant chunk of his career he was not necessarily fixated on making up for lost time.

"I don't get stressed about how much footy I've missed. There's no point living in that state where you're constantly thinking about how many games you've missed or that the guys you were drafted with have played 'X' amount. I just focus on getting as healthy as I can. And, really, in a life sense, I still count myself incredibly lucky."