Port Adelaide ruckman Matthew Lobbe and forward Cameron Hitchcock have undergone surgery that will disrupt their preparation for the 2012 season.

Lobbe will miss up to 12 weeks after an operation to repair a labral tear in his hip.

The 22-year-old experienced soreness late in 2011 and despite an extended break over Christmas his condition hadn’t improved when he resumed training last week.

Coach Matthew Primus said the club and Lobbe had little choice but to proceed with arthroscopic surgery.

“It was niggling him in December and we virtually gave him Christmas off to see if he could come back, but it actually got worse,” Primus told PortAdelaideFC.com.au

“We might have been able to manage it in January and February, but it would have been a nightmare to do it all year, so we thought the best thing would be to knock it on the head right now.

“We thought we’d get it done and then prepare him to get going and then he won’t have an interrupted season once he’s ready to go.”

Lobbe - who impressed while playing in the final 10 rounds of 2011, averaging almost 23 hit-outs a week before signing a new contract for the Power - will start running again in about six weeks.

He’s expected to miss the Power’s NAB Cup campaign beginning on Sunday 26 February, but should be pushing for selection early in the AFL premiership season. Port Adelaide’s opening game is against St Kilda at AAMI Stadium on Sunday 1 April.

“Best case he’ll be available for before Round 1 and worse case it’ll be Round 2, 3 or 4, around there,” Primus said.

“He’s got a great fitness base, so that will come up to speed pretty quickly. And because it’s a hip he’s not going to lose a lot of his strength.”

It’s a second pre-season setback for Lobbe in successive years after he underwent shoulder surgery early in 2011, before returning to competition with West Adelaide in SANFL Round 5.

Primus doesn’t doubt Lobbe’s ability to rebound quickly from another setback.

“He’s had a terrific base from training in November and December. Fitness-wise he’ll have a bit of work to do, but he’s going to be ok.”

The injury will impact on Port Adelaide’s ruck stocks early in the NAB Cup campaign, with recruit Brent Renouf unlikely to be available until the second round of the pre-season competition.

23-year-old Renouf - who was traded to Alberton at the end of 2011 from Hawthorn - is close to joining in full training after undergoing rehabilitation on a pre-existing knee tendonitis condition.

“He’s on light skills now and by early February he’ll join in training,” Primus said of Renouf.

“The idea is by the second or third week of the NAB Cup he’ll be available for selection so we can get a couple of games into him before the start of the year.”

A perfect match for Lobbe’s 200cm frame, Renouf is a noted runner and was a member of the Hawks’ 2008 premiership team.

“He’s a bit like Lobbes in that he’s got a natural base of fitness,” Primus said.

The Power has options among its big man stocks to help cover any short-term absences, with Daniel Stewart and Justin Westhoff capable of rucking and playing up the ground.

“All our rucks have got capabilities of going forward and taking marks so that gives us flexibility in what we do,” Primus said.

He said the Power will continue to explore the possibility of playing tandem ruckmen through 2012.

“We’ll give it a good look in the NAB Cup to see how it’ll operate, but it’ll be a little bit horses for courses with the teams we play,” Primus said.

“We’ve got to get the ruckmen up and going. We traded for one and the reason we’ve put Lobbe in now is because we know he’s going to be available close to the start of the season and so will Renouf, so we’ve got to make sure they’re right to go for the rest of the year.”

An opportunity also presents itself for 21 year-old emerging ruck talent Jarrad Redden, who played in the Woodville-West Torrens 2011 SANFL premiership side.

“Because there’s an opening there, there’s a little bit of a chance for Reddo too,” Primus said.

“Jarrad’s next two months are important for him in terms of staying on the park, training and getting a lot of fitness into him.”

Hitchcock also will be out of action for as many as 12 weeks after surgery on a shoulder which was partially dislocated while training.

Primus said Hitchcock could have opted against an operation and continued training, but he probably wouldn’t have seen the full season out.

“We could have kept on going with him, but there was a 99 per cent chance it would pop out once if not every game, or at least every three or four weeks,” he said.

“And every time it pops out you’re doing some kind of damage to it.

“With the way we want to play this year, especially Hitchy, we want people to be able to tackle and dive on balls and all that, so it would have been a scenario where we’re going to find his strength is no good.”

Hitchcock - who played 13 matches in 2011 and has kicked 29 goals in his 30-game career - will also be helped by a solid pre-season.

“Hitchy’s had a great November-December.” Primus said.

“With all these guys, if they hadn’t had a great build-up it would have been a bit dicey to send them into have surgery, but he’s got a natural fitness base behind him and at least with a shoulder you can still tick your legs over.

“Early in the AFL season he’ll be available for us to pick him again. The surgery all went well, so we’ve got to rehab it properly now.”

Port Adelaide also has cover for small forwards, with Simon Phillips returning from his own shoulder operation.

“Phillips is back into contact training at the start of this week, Jarrod Irons is there and Chad Wingard’s played a bit there,” Primus said.

“We’re going to send a lot of midfielders there, too. So we think we’ve got pretty good coverage.”