North Melbourne star big man Drew Petrie will miss the early part of the AFL season with a foot fracture.

The valuable 27-year-old broke a bone in his right foot at training on Tuesday, with the club still to determine the amount of time he will spend on the sidelines.

The ruckman-forward was already set to miss the opening two rounds through suspension, but will now be out for much longer.

"It's not as if I have injured my knee and will be out for a year, so it means I'll still get to play a large chunk of the season," Petrie said on the club's website.

"I've never been injured like this before so it's really different for me. I'm disappointed and it hasn't really sunk in yet.

"I was due to miss the first two games of the season through suspension anyway but it will hurt not being able to play straight after that."

Petrie said when the break occurred he initially thought he had stepped on a sprinkler at the Arden St Oval.

"I was running along and I changed direction slightly, I thought I stepped on a sprinkler head on the oval but that was actually when the bone broke," Petrie said.

"The instant pain was really sharp but then it went away."

Petrie, entering his 10th season, said he had only missed one match previously in his career through injury.

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