Daw suffered the injury during a gym session on Friday but on Monday the Kangaroos confirmed he would not need to go under the knife, with the defender returning to the club to commence his recovery.

"I saw the surgeon this morning (Greg Hoy) he told me I can avoid surgery, which is great," Daw told North Melbourne's website.

"I can play a lot earlier than expected - they're saying it's about three weeks before I can play but I'm obviously going to try really hard and push myself to get back quicker."

Daw had been on the verge of making his first AFL appearance since suffering serious hip and pelvic injuries in a fall from Melbourne's Bolte Bridge in December 2018.

He was originally scheduled to return in round one this year but had to pull out of the clash with St Kilda due to a minor cold.

Daw had been tracking towards North Melbourne's round-two game against GWS when he felt a sharp pain on his right side during a chest exercise in the gym on Friday, with scans revealing a tear.

"(The main feeling is) relief - obviously it's pretty well known that I haven't played for a long time," Daw said.

"I just miss playing footy so (the recovery will) be done a lot quicker than the ... eight weeks (recovery time from surgery) which could have been the path I was going to go down."

The 29-year-old has played 50 AFL games for the Kangaroos since making his debut in 2013, with his best season coming in 2018 when he played 18 games as a key defender.

His most recent AFL game was in 2018 but he returned to action at VFL level last year.

Australian Associated Press