West Coast is confident Tom Barrass will be fit for the start of the 2020 campaign despite having surgery to fix a pre-season foot setback.

The Eagles this afternoon confirmed Barrass had gone under the knife, with the key defender facing an eight-week layoff.

The injury was to the opposite foot that caused the 24-year-old to miss the first third of the 2019 campaign due to a similar problem.

West Coast expects Barrass to return to the field in time for the season opener against Melbourne on March 22.

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The setback comes less than a week after Barrass spoke to Seven West Media about eyeing personal redemption in 2020 after a testing finish to last season.

“I thought I had quite a good year up until the last few rounds and probably fell right out of form,” he said.

“So that’s something I’m looking to redeem and hopefully that will come early on in the season.”

Camera Icon Tom Barrass has gone under the knife. Credit: Daniel Wilkins

Barrass also said he had been wary not to be “thrown into the deep end too quickly” with pre-season load management as he looked to overcome a history of foot problems, saying he felt in better shape than last summer.

The news came just hours after Fremantle’s defensive counterpart Alex Pearce also suffered a setback with his own lower-leg issue.

Pearce was set to have follow-up surgery today in Melbourne to strengthen his fractured ankle after missing the back half of the 2019 campaign.

The 24-year-old is unlikely to be in a position to rejoin full training before mid February.