PORT Adelaide veteran Warren Tredrea has had an artificial ligament inserted in his foot in a bid to quicken his recovery from a potentially career-threatening ankle injury.
PTV: Dr Fisher On Tredrea's Surgery
Tredrea damaged two ligaments in his ankle when his foot became trapped under teammate Matt Thomas in the second quarter of Saturday's thrilling win over Essendon.
The 31-year-old is facing up to 12 weeks on the sidelines, but the club is hopeful the cutting-edge procedure will have him return sooner.
The LARS-style surgery is believed to be an AFL first and incorporates the use of an artificial ligament, which holds the bones together while the original ligament heals.
Port Adelaide doctor Mark Fisher admitted Tredrea's injury had clouded Tredrea's future, but was confident he hadn't played his last AFL game.
"Any injury of this nature is potentially career-threatening, but if you go back to Tredders' knee surgery we thought that was the end of his career as well," Fisher said on Tuesday.
"The advantage of the synthetic ligament is that it has a great deal of flexibility, which allows him to get going a lot quicker. The procedure is relatively new, but it has been used quite regularly in New South Wales in the rugby league and also in American footballers.
"Hopefully it means we'll be able to get Tredders training a little bit sooner than you'd otherwise expect."
Tredrea had surgery on Monday night and is expected to be in a moon boot for the next month.
He should start running in six weeks and Fisher said he'd pencilled in a round-16 return for the best and fairest winner.
"We've seen the injury before and it's certainly a serious one, which is why we're being fairly conservative with it … but knowing Tredders he's the sort of person who is very obsessive about his rehabilitation so it wouldn't surprise me if he came straight back in at AFL level [in round 16]," Fisher said.
"He's been remarkable in his comeback from his knee injuries and if anybody is able to come back from this injury he's certainly one of the few that could do it."
Tredrea's injury opens the door for one of the club's budding tall forwards ahead of this week's clash with Carlton.
Richmond discard Jay Schulz was unlucky to be omitted from the side that beat Adelaide in round six and could be recalled, while Daniel Stewart and Nick Salter have also been in good form in the SANFL.
However, second-year midfielder Hamish Hartlett is also facing a stint on the sidelines, after straining his quad in an innocuous kicking drill at training on Friday.
Hartlett was a late withdrawal last weekend and is likely to miss a month of football.
