West Coast will consider radical reconstructive knee surgery for Simon Tunbridge after confirmation on Monday that the luckless utility player had ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

Eagles football manager Craig Vozzo said a “hybrid” LARS operation, involving grafted ligament and artificial fibre with a recovery time of around six months, would be one of three surgical options put to Tunbridge in the coming days.

“In his case we do,” (consider LARS options),” Vozzo said.

“He is a rookie and it is a pretty important year for him, so we are going to have our doctors give us some recommendations over the next couple of days.

“There will be three possibilities — the traditional knee reconstruction which means out for the 10 to 12 months, the LARS which is a three-to-four-month recovery, or there is a hybrid LARS. We will have a look at that which is probably five to six months.

“With Simon we will seriously consider the different LARS options given his personal circumstances.”

Vozzo said Tunbridge, 23, was “absolutely shattered” by the latest injury, which came in an innocuous fall as he attempted a change of direction in a competitive ball drill during training at the Wembley Sports Complex yesterday morning.

“He has never had a really good run at it and he has done a good preparation through the off-season and he was in really good nick. It is really disappointing for him,” Vozzo said.

Medical staff treated him on the spot for 10 minutes, then did further examination of the knee on a rubdown table by the field for a further 10 minutes.

The leg was then strapped and iced heavily and Tunbridge was driven away for scans by the Eagles’ player services co-ordinator Ian Miller.

The scans revealed a torn ACL on Monday afternoon.

Tunbridge joined the Eagles as a rookie from Greater Western Sydney in 2012 and has managed only 10 games in four seasons with the club, amid a series of injuries, including serious ankle problems.

The Eagles have persisted because of his powerful 191cm physique and the belief that he could improve significantly if he manages to get some continuity from an injury-free run.

West Coast have already lost ruckman Nic Naitanui for the bulk of 2017 to a knee reconstruction, and have concerns over whether Scott Lycett will be available for the start of the season because of major posterior cruciate ligament surgery.