Dale Thomas will miss the rest of the AFL season after it was revealed he needs shoulder surgery.

Thomas injured his shoulder in the opening minutes of the season when he dislocated it against Richmond.

He has also been recovering from a “stress reaction” in his toe.

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“His shoulder hasn’t been right ever since the first tackle of the first game at the start of the season and the last couple of games it actually slipped out,” Carlton head of football Andrew McKay said.

“We had some advice from the specialist yesterday and came to the conclusion that he needs a shoulder reconstruction, so he’s having that done tomorrow.

“It’s really unfortunate for Dale, and certainly disappointing for us, that he will be out for the rest of the season. But this way at least we will be able to get him fit and get him right before the start of the pre-season for 2016 to give him the best opportunity to play some really good footy next year.”

It is a cruel blow for the Blues who are already without retiring veteran Chris Judd (knee) and ruckman Robert Warnock (shoulder) for the rest of 2015.