PORT Adelaide remains hopeful Charlie Dixon could play a role in the NAB Challenge despite the key forward’s recent knee surgery.

Dixon injured cartilage in his left knee at training on February 2 and had a minor operation.

The club predicted he'd miss up to six weeks but the former Sun is recovering well and is expected to start running this week.

Port is unlikely to take any risks with Dixon ahead of its round one clash at home against St Kilda on March 27.

However, emerging speedster Karl Amon believes Dixon may be ready to play in the Power’s final NAB Challenge clash against Richmond on March 10.

"He's moving freely, he's walking around the changerooms – pretty sure he's running on Wednesday so it looks like he's on track for NAB three," Amon said of Dixon.

"Hopefully he can get out on the park with us and put in a good performance."

Amon is hoping to cement his place in the senior side with an impressive NAB Challenge campaign.

The 20-year-old made his senior debut last year and finished with seven games to his name.

He showed a terrific turn of pace and genuine goal sense when forward.

It's expected the left-footer, who has added a few kilograms to his frame, will see increased game time in 2016 on the back of another pre-season.

But he insisted he wasn't pressuring himself.

"It's not so much pressure, it's just trying to improve as a player for me - if I improve as a player then that (game time) should take care of itself," he said.

"It was a really good experience last year playing those seven games - obviously it'd be nice to play more than that but I just want to play footy and whether that's for Port Adelaide in the AFL or the SANFL, it's just good that I'm playing here.

"I showed some signs last year that I belong [at AFL level] … that gave me confidence and when you've got confidence you play really good footy."

Amon is all but certain to feature in Port's opening NAB Challenge game against the Sydney Swans on Saturday.

As they have in recent seasons, the Power will field a young side early in the pre-season competition before finetuning a more senior outfit by the end.