The talented Hampden league product, who has signed on with the North Ballarat Roosters for 2017, is just three weeks away from resuming full training after suffering a knee injury in the VFL side’s final training session before Christmas.

He had a partial tear in his left anterior cruciate ligament and a fracture in his fibia, as well as an issue with the meniscus, but said he is grateful the damage was not worse.

“I was pretty lucky that it was nothing too major – three weeks and I should be able to get back into full training,” Huppatz said.

“I just went for a spoil and landed on it straight-legged.

“It’s my left leg, my non-dominant leg. It’s feeling perfect now, it’s just more about strengthening it.”

The 19-year-old is still weighing up whether to study in Ballarat or Geelong next year, but said he was keen to retain Portland as his feeder club and travel back for matches.

“Preferably, I’d like to stay with Portland – I spoke to Marc Greig, the coach of the Roosters, and he’s pretty support of whatever I do,” he said.

Tigers teammate Jay Moody will also play for the Roosters and this week lodged a clearance to AFL Barwon side Grovedale, which he was aligned to for the first half of last season when he was a Geelong VFL-listed player.

Moody returned to Portland for the second half of 2016, playing the Tigers’ final nine matches and kicking an impressive 29 goals.

The 20-year-old said a sense of “unfinished business” prompted him to return to Grovedale, although his time with the GFL Tigers could be very limited if all goes well with the Roosters.

He has been putting more time into his endurance this pre-season in a bid to push further up the field and play as a high forward.

“Endurance hasn’t been my natural thing as a footy player; I’ve always been a short-burst player,” Moody said. “A lot of endurance running has been going into this pre-season. I’ve got rid of a couple of kilos, which is nice.”

Another Portland product in Tom Templeton, who made his Roosters debut last year, was expected to play on, but a club spokesperson said he had relocated to Queensland for work.