Port Adelaide have not set a date for the return of injured key forward Charlie Dixon after a setback in his recovery from a serious lower leg injury.
The 100+ kilogram big man suffered a broken leg and dislocated ankle in the Power's round 21 loss to West Coast last year.
AFL.com.au’s Lee Gaskin reports that Dixon’s training has been scaled back after experiencing pain in the ankle following three weeks of running.
Dixon won’t be available for Port Adelaide’s round one clash with Melbourne on Saturday 23rd March, but the club are hopeful he will be back running with the playing group in the back end of this week.
The Power refuse to put a timeframe on the forward until he can increase his training capacity without pain.
“Charlie, I think, will be back prior to mid-season,” Port Adelaide vice-captain Hamish Hartlett told AFL Nation last Saturday.
“I couldn’t give you an exact week or an approximate week, but I wouldn’t think he’d be back within the first three or four weeks of the season.
“Given his injury, it’s a joint injury and he weighs 105kg, there’s a lot of pressure and force going through that joint on a day-to-day basis, especially when he starts running again, so it will be a long, slow process for Charlie.”
Both Dixon and Hartlett, who is 3-4 weeks off returning from an ACL injury himself, join Paddy Ryder (cheekbone, day-to-day) and captain Ollie Wines (shoulder, 3-5 weeks) on the Power injury list.
