Jonas optimistic after surgery

PORT Adelaide defender Tom Jonas is labelling keyhole surgery on his injured left kneecap as so successful that he predicts an earlier-thanexpected return to AFL action.

Jonas walked out of an orthopaedic hospital in Stepney on Tuesday morning — after arthroscopic surgery to clear loose fragments from his knee — giving an optimistic account of an injury that has carried predictions of a sixweek stint on the sidelines.

But Jonas says he will be back “in no time”, enhancing hopes he has no more than a month out of action.

In that time, Port Adelaide’s chase for a top-four finish — for the first time since ranking second in 2007 — will be shaped by games against Fremantle (Perth Stadium on Sunday), Greater Western Sydney (Adelaide Oval), the Western Bulldogs (Ballarat) and the Crows in Showdown 45 at Adelaide Oval on August 4.

Jonas felt the knee pain while being tackled by a St Kilda opponent in the third quarter of Saturday’s win at Adelaide Oval.

Port Adelaide’s “no-name defence” — that is conceding a Power record-low 73 points — immediately covers Jonas’s absence with the recall of Jack Hombsch for his ninth game in his yoyo season at selection.

Hombsch last played in the AFL in Port Adelaide’s gritty 21-point win against Carlton at the MCG where Jonas missed to ease a hamstring concern.