Power forward Brett Ebert underwent LARS surgery on Monday after rupturing his ACL against Melbourne and Port football manager Peter Rohde said the procedure was a success.
Ebert injured his knee in a fairly innocuous challenge in the first quarter on Sunday and Rohde said all reports from the surgeon indicate there was no other significant damage to surrounding areas and ligaments.
"Brett had surgery last night, the LARS ligament method," he said.
"When they got in there they found very little other damage than the ACL which is a good thing. He wasn't in too much pain at the time which is a good indicator that there wasn't too much other damage."
"When he got in there his joint surfaces and all the other ligaments were intact so it was just a very straight forward LARS surgery."
Rohde admitted planning Ebert's recovery was still too premature, indicating the goal sneak wouldn't be up to too much before Christmas.
"We'll have to wait and see what the surgeons say afterwards," he said.
"We'll take a pretty conservative approach through until Christmas anyway, but it certainly opens up the possibility of him playing much earlier in the season."
"He said it was pretty straight forward, in relative terms a pretty simple LARS operation."
Team-mate David Rodan underwent the same procedure last year when he injured his knee in December during pre-season, and the pocket rocket was back playing by Round 6, effectively missing only four months of action rather than a full year with the more traditional reconstructive surgery.
Rohde said Ebert's spirits were high and if Rodan's recovery is anything to go by, the strong marking forward should be ready for the start of next season.
"He's fine. He's very positive and he's had a lot of support from his team-mates. It's very disappointing for him, he's got some time off now," he said.
"He'll have to start training in five or six weeks time, if it's the same time line as D-Rod (Rodan), he'll be starting to jog. The good thing is you can get and up about and you don't get the other associated de-training effects you have with the normal reconstruction."
Rohde admitted age did play a part in Ebert's decision to opt for LARS surgery and a speedy recovery, with the Magarey Medallist turning 27 in November.