The versatile South Australian key position player, who last year played four games in his state's winning under-18 side, went under the knife two weeks ago after a training mishap for West Adelaide left him with torn ligaments in his thumb.
The 196cm Durdin, who can play as a centre half-forward, centre half-back or through the ruck, is likely to miss the first month of the SANFL season, but remains in the mix as a possible top-five draft selection.
"The surgery went pretty well and he's got it in the splint at the moment, and he's telling me he expects to be back about round four of the SANFL season or thereabouts, so that will get him a couple of games before we roll into the under-18 championships," South Australian under-18 coach Brenton Phillips told AFL.com.au.
South Australia begins its defence of the under-18 title on May 24 when it faces Western Australia at AAMI Stadium, and Durdin's injury means he will be able to maintain shape in preparation for that contest.
"He'll be able to keep fit, and he can still work on his running and get his endurance ability up, so he'll be in reasonable shape. He knows what it takes to get himself up and going for the championships having had a similar injury this time last year," Phillips said.
"It's just an injury out of bad luck and at least he's able to do some aerobic work out of it and he's naturally a fit sort of bloke anyway.
"I've seen him really grow over the last 12 months, more in between the ears. I think he's really matured as a young man and he's come down to us from the country, and he's been a part of the AIS-AFL Academy program and matured as a person. I think he'll come through this pretty well."
Durdin is the standout draftee of this year's South Australian crop, with Mac Bower, Jesse Watchman and eligible Melbourne father-son prospect Billy Stretch also in the AIS-AFL Academy.
Last year SA's under-18 side produced two top-10 selections – Matthew Scharenberg (pick six, Collingwood) and James Aish (pick seven, Brisbane Lions) – and another nine players were picked in the NAB AFL Draft. A further four players were selected in the rookie draft.
"There's no secret in the fact he'd be our first player drafted out of SA at this point at least. He's a real strong prospect. The beauty of him is he's versatile; he can play through both ends of the ground and it's something all clubs look for," Phillips said.
"We'll probably play him forward, but there's a chance we'll use him back, too. It might be, at this level, he might be our ruckman too. He did that pretty successfully last season but I'm pretty mindful in thinking he probably wouldn't be the lead ruckman at AFL level, so we've got to give him exposure to other parts of the ground."
Phillips' side recently had its first trial game, and a number of players are pushing to be in the draft mix from South Australia, including Norwood's Peter Bampton, South Adelaide's Caleb Daniel, and Woodville West Torrens' Jack Hayes.
Hayes, whose older brother Nick is a Brisbane Lions rookie, is a smart half-forward with good marking ability.
"He's got a really good set of hands on him, and he's one who excites me," Phillips said.
Under the new home and away format of the NAB AFL Under-18 Championships, South Australia will play six games, closing with a clash with Vic Metro at Simonds Stadium on July 3.
Twitter: @AFL_CalTwomey
