Jack Trengove can make a full recovery from more surgery on his troublesome foot injury

SPECIALISTS have told Jack Trengove he can still make a full recovery despite more surgery on his troublesome navicular bone.

melbourne time trial,Picture Wayne Ludbey. Jack Trengove,

SPECIALISTS have told Jack Trengove he can still make a full recovery despite more surgery on his troublesome navicular bone.

Trengove will be in a cast for ten weeks after Wednesday’s surgery to remove screws that have slowed the recovery of his foot.

It seems unlikely he will play football next year but the Demons refuse to put any timelines on his return.

The Demons lured sacked Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney as a development and strategy coach in a coup for the once-maligned club.

His strong relationship with Melbourne’s 2017 coach Simon Goodwin sealed the deal despite Essendon’s strong interest in getting him back to the Bombers.

McCartney will step up as Goodwin’s mentor and sidekick when Paul Roos leaves at the end of 2016, with the Demons’ much-maligned development program given a huge shot in the arm.

Trengove will have bone taken from his hip and grafted onto his navicular bone, with footy manager Josh Mahoney confident he will get back eventually.

“That is why we are taking this course of action, it is the best thing to do for Jack to get his foot back into a good state and moving back to playing footy again,’’ he said.

“He realises there are challenges ahead of him but he’s young, he’s 23 and if he recovers well which we believe he can, he still has a long career ahead of him.”

The Demons must make a decision on Luke Tapscott before the October 31 trade period and seem certain to take midfielder Angus Brayshaw and key forward Patrick McCartin with picks two and three.

Brayshaw plays in the same TAC Cup side as Paul Roos’ son Tyler, who is eligible for the draft this year.

The Sandringham Dragons flanker is an elite runner and seems unlikely to get to the Demons given they may have only three or four national draft picks.

But Mahoney said the club was well equipped to deal with the conflict should Tyler become available at a pick that appealed.

“We have been through it before with (recruiting boss) Todd Viney and Jack Viney and it is also the same way we go about picking father-son selections,’’ he said.

“We treat them like any other player in the draft pool. If they are highly rated and the player is available at a certain pick, they are the decision you make.”

The Demons have in three successive years bolstered the departments that continued to let them down — first recruitment, then coaching and now development.

McCartney has long been renowned as one of the best teachers in football and will hope to help fix the long list of Melbourne’s busts from their high draft picks.

Originally published as Jack Trengove can make a full recovery from more surgery on his troublesome foot injury