Premiership Roo Mia King will not feature again in 2026 after undergoing surgery for a serious neck injury sustained against the Lions last weekend.

The Jawoyn woman had surgery in Brisbane this week to fuse her C5 and C6 vertebrae in her neck after reporting neck pain following the grand final rematch.

A disc injury near her spinal cord was found and prompted the surgery, with King still in Brisbane recovering.

King's 2026 season has been cut short, though there's no major fears of it being a career-ending injury.

"We will continue monitoring Mia in her recovery but we don't expect this type of surgery to stop her from returning to play in 2027," North club AFLW doctor Victoria Norbury said.

King's name didn't feature in the club's injury report earlier this week, with a coming update and neck injury flagged when naming their team on Thursday.

The 25-year-old has made 74 appearances since debuting in 2020.

She missed North Melbourne's back-to-back flag wins when she was unable to force herself back into the side after a long break with a knee injury for last year's grand final.

Coach Darren Crocker at the time said delivering the news was "probably one of the harder conversations I've had to have in football".

After the latest injury, North general manager of women's football Erin Lorenzini said the club will now "wrap our arms around Mia".

"We are devastated for her, but also full of admiration for how incredibly strong she has been this week," she said.

"As a proud Jawoyn woman she was particularly looking forward to wearing our Indigenous Round jumper in Launceston this weekend.

"We have a very close group of players and staff, and all our thoughts will be with her as we run out against the Bulldogs on Saturday."