CHARLIE Dixon is on track to debut for Port Adelaide late in the NAB Challenge after undergoing knee surgery last week, Power coach Ken Hinkley says.
 
Dixon damaged the meniscus in his left knee at training last Monday and underwent a minor operation the next day.
 
Hinkley told Melbourne radio station SEN on Thursday that the Power had been "a little apprehensive" about sending Dixon in for surgery because there was a chance he could have carried the injury through 2016.
 
But the Port coach said the club had taken a cautious approach, opting for surgery to ensure Dixon's knee did not flare up during the season.
 
And Hinkley said the forward's recovery over the past week suggested he would play in the NAB Challenge, with the Power's final game on March 10 against Richmond.
 
"He's already got no swelling, he's moving fine, he's walking around. He'll actually run, we think, on Monday now and is on track to play some part of the NAB Challenge," Hinkley said.
 
Hinkley said the Power were keen for Dixon to play at least one NAB Challenge game so the former Gold Coast spearhead, who crossed to Alberton Oval in last year's trade period, could jell with new forward-line partners Jay Schulz and Justin Westhoff.
 
"We're really comfortable that Schulz, Westhoff and Dixon together are going to cause some problems for opposition teams," he said.