Port Adelaide forward-midfielder Robbie Gray has undergone surgery to repair damage to his knee and is expected to recover in time to play at the start of the 2013 AFL season.

The 24-year-old had a traditional knee reconstruction in Adelaide on Monday night after scans confirmed he had torn the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee.

Gray was stretchered off of Etihad Stadium after landing heavily in the final minute of Saturday’s 24-point loss to Collingwood.

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Port Adelaide general manager - football operations Peter Rohde said the surgery had successfully repaired Gray’s ACL and some minor damage to the joint capsule. Gray’s other knee ligaments and cartilage were not damaged.

“It’s about as good an outcome as we could have hoped for considering what happened,” Rohde told PortAdelaideFC.com.au following the operation.

“It was a pretty straight forward reconstruction in that there were no other ligaments damaged and the cartilage is OK.”

While Gray will not play again in 2012, the club is confident he will be in action from the start of the 2013 season.

“Robbie’s rehab will be pretty straight forward,” Rohde said.

“He won’t play this year, but we think he’ll be running by the end of the season

“He won’t do any contested work in the pre-season, but he’ll be able to do plenty of running so we’d like to think he could be involved in trial matches and be back for the start of next season.”

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Rohde said the club had been hopeful that the damage had been contained to Gray’s ACL.

“A lot of people who saw the video certainly thought it could have been a lot worse,” he said.

“But there was no swelling or further damage today so we were thinking that the ligaments and cartilage were intact and that’s how it’s turned out.”

Gray played every game of the Power’s 2011 season, finishing as its leading goal-kicker while also spending more time in the midfield. He was selected to play for Australia in the 2011 International Rules Series against Ireland.

Gray has played 70 games for Port Adelaide after making his debut in 2007, having been selected at pick no. 55 in the 2006 AFL Draft.