Port pair suffer injury setbacks

Port Adelaide pair Angus Monfires and Charlie Dixon will miss the next few months of pre-season training after both underwent surgery this week.

Monfires, who only recently returned from his 12-month doping ban, has undergone shoulder surgery after suffering an injury at training last week.

Meanwhile, Dixon has undergone ankle surgery and will also be out of action until after Christmas.

“Charlie has a history of ankle issues and this is the same ankle that gave him problems towards the end of last season so we thought the most sensible thing to do was get it cleaned up now,” Port Adelaide head of high performance Darren Burgess said.

“He’ll be back running in three to four weeks and ready for full training when the group returns from the Christmas break.”

“We just feel it’s safest to get [Monfries’s] shoulder right now so there are no issues down the track.

“He’ll be back running in a few weeks but will stay out of full contact drills until after Christmas.”