PORT Adelaide forward Chad Wingard will miss at least four weeks of training after undergoing minor knee surgery.
The 21-year-old had the clean up on his right knee on Tuesday morning after experiencing soreness last week.
Head of high performance Darren Burgess said given the season started later this year, the decision was made to have surgery now and allow the knee to recuperate.
"With the season still nine to 10 weeks away, we decided the right course of action was to get the surgery done now rather than waiting to see if rest would allow him to recover," Burgess said.
"The expectation is that Chad will be back on the track in four to six weeks."
Wingard has played 67 games in three seasons and was an All Australian in 2013.
