Carlton is hopeful Brad Fisher will play a role in the Blues' 2010 campaign after booking the forward in for the revolutionary knee surgery made famous by Sydney's Nick Malceski in 2008.
With Fisher expected to shoulder a good portion of the club's forward responsibility following Brendan Fevola's move to Brisbane, the Blues have opted to put the 25-year-old through ligament augmentation and reconstruction (LARS) surgery after he injured his knee in last week's NAB Cup loss to Sydney.
Fisher was initially facing 12 months on the sidelines after partially tearing his anterior cruciate ligament.
But the club is hopeful of having him back on board by Round 12 following Wednesday's operation, where industrial strength polyester fibres are used to augment the torn natural ligament.
"Obviously this is positive news for Brad and the club as it will see him return before the second half of the season," said football operations manager Steven Icke.
"We underwent a thorough investigation as to the best treatment for this injury, understanding that the LARS surgery is not always the most appropriate and are pleased that it was for Brad's injury."
Fisher also spoke with Malceski, who successfully returned to the game within several months following LARS surgery in 2008, before undergoing the procedure.
Fisher and Malceski were team-mates at the Eastern Rangers Under-18 team in the TAC Cup Competition.
In some bad news for Sydney though, midfielder Craig Bird has a stress fracture to his foot and will be sidelined for approximately 10-12 weeks.
Bird will not require surgery but he won't be able to resume running for approximately six weeks.
"Whilst this is obviously not ideal, we know Craig will be back sometime in the front half of the season," Swans coach Paul Roos said on Wednesday.
"Craig has had a great pre-season prior to this injury which makes this particularly disappointing for him."
"At least this setback has happened early in the year so he will still have an opportunity to get back into the team and have a good season."
Bird the news had been particularly tough to take.
"I am disappointed to have done the whole pre-season and get an injury at this point but I just have to stay positive," he said.
"I am told to stay off my foot for a while and I am just looking forward to getting back in the early part of the year."