Essendon are hopeful but uncertain that 2014 best and fairest Dyson Heppell will be fit to play by the season's opening game after knee surgery following an injury at training.
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The Dons have described Heppell's surgery - the removal of loose cartilage - as relatively minor and expected him to be out for 2-3 weeks. This would see him potentially back by round one, though there are no guarantees.
Heppell, who was to have arthroscopic surgery on Tuesday morning, had complained of discomfort in the knee during a Monday training session.
Club doctor Bruce Reid said in a statement that the procedure will ensure Heppell spends "minimum time on the sidelines".
"Dyson will have an arthroscopy to remove a small piece of cartilage which had become a loose body," Reid said on Tuesday.
"Julian Feller will operate on Dyson this morning and we expect he'll be back training in two weeks time." Essendon meetSydney at the SCG on April 4 to open their season.
There is, of course, uncertainty surrounding the availability of many Essendon players for round one, due to the ASADA-related tribunal hearing, where 17 current Essendon players (from 34) face charges in a case expected to conclude shortly before the season starts.
Heppell, as a 2012 listed player, is not participating in the NAB Challenge (25 players from 2012 have withdrawn, to protect the anonymity of the provisionally suspended 17), so his injury is not preventing him playing pre-season games but will keep him from training for a fortnight.
The Bombers plan to play all seven of their top-up players - signed to fill the breach caused by the provisional suspensions - this Saturday against the Saints in Morwell and may require a further half dozen or so VFL players for the match.
The top-ups, who have signed short-term contracts and have all once been on AFL lists, consist of Clint Jones (ex-St Kilda), Mitch Brown (Geelong), Sam Michael (Brisbane), James Polkinghorne (Brisbane), James Magner (Melbourne), Jared Petrenko (Adelaide) and Mitch Clisby (Melbourne).
Heppell was outstanding last year, winning Essendon's best and fairest and all-Australian selection, emerging as of the game's elite midfielders. He won the NAB Rising Star award in his first season, 2011.