South Australia's ban on elective surgery could delay Port Adelaide forward Orazio Fantasia's recovery from his latest AFL injury.
Fantasia may require an operation on his right knee but SA has halted elective surgery to ease pressure on its hospital system amid the coronavirus pandemic.
While Port breathe a collective sigh of relief that key forward Charlie Dixon won't need surgery on an injured ankle, they hold hopes Fantasia will also avoid an operation.
The goalsneak had surgery on his left knee twice last year but is reporting ongoing soreness in his right knee.
The earliest Fantasia could have an operation is February 6 or 7 when the government is expected to lift the elective surgery ban, Power assistant coach Chad Cornes says.
"His plan is to go for a light jog on Wednesday, which is a good sign," Cornes told reporters on Monday.
"I had a chat to him this morning and he said it was feeling pretty good.
"So if he gets through that little on-field jog on Wednesday we will look to progress things from there.
"Both (Fantasia's) knees were looking really good when we returned from the long break in November, he just had a minor flare-up during training.
"The other knee has recovered really well but this (right) one isn't at the level that you would hope ... (but) it's not disastrous at this stage."
Fantasia had surgery on his left knee during Port's midseason break last season and missed eight games. He also had a post-season operation on the same knee.
Port expect a clear diagnosis on spearhead Dixon by the end of the week.
Dixon, who has topped Port's goalkicking in three of the past five seasons, tore ligaments in his left ankle when landing on a teammate's foot after a marking contest at training on January 21.
"It looks like surgery at this stage won't be required," Cornes said.
"When he initially did it, it looked quite serious.
"He was in a lot of pain and the talk was that it would require surgery and could be (out) up to three months so it was a little frightening to start with.
"But it's getting better and better every day, the swelling has gone down, he's actually walking around on it pretty much pain free at the moment.
"If all that continues he should avoid surgery and be out on the track, I would think, around the four-week mark.
"To turn out the way it has, everyone did breathe a sigh of relief."
