NEW WESTERN Bulldogs recruit Christian Howard is likely to be unavailable for the NAB Cup owing to impending surgery on a troublesome hip.

Howard, who turns 19 in March, will have an operation to rectify a hip impingement on Monday, the day before the club's young guns head off on their Christmas break.

The young South Australian was taken by the Bulldogs with their first selection, pick No.15 overall, in last month's NAB AFL Draft.

"It's a light thing. We were across that prior to drafting him," general manager of football James Fantasia told afl.com.au.

"We're going to do it pre-Christmas so it gives him some good recovery time.

"We picked it up early through our screenings and it was always on the cards."

Howard can expect to be removed from training entirely for around four weeks before facing a couple of months on the sidelines.

Fantasia said the decision to operate was welcomed by the young gun who was looking forward to having a full range of movement in the joint.

"The injury means he doesn't have as much flexibility and it gets a bit sore after heavy work loads," he explained.

"He gets a bit achy with it so this will basically free him up and take away any discomfort. He can still continue to play with it; it's not a threatening injury like that.

"It's more about giving him a little bit more relief so he can handle workloads without having to compromise for it."

Howard has not experienced any discomfort in his other hip and therefore requires just the one operation at this stage.

Meanwhile, the Bulldogs are looking at having almost a full list to choose from for their opening NAB Cup game against the Brisbane Lions at Manuka Oval on February 14.

Jordan Roughead, Liam Picken and Easton Wood are back training after post-season shoulder reconstructions, while Brad Johnson is progressing well after shoulder/bicep surgery.

Adam Cooney, Dylan Addison and Ayce Cordy are all training after knee operations, although Cordy's program has been periodically interrupted by university exams.

Barry Hall (ankle) is running and will increase his program after Christmas, while Robert Murphy is participating in controlled running and will follow Hall a few weeks later.

Sam Reid and Stephen Tiller (both groin operations) are also running and are a chance to be available for the NAB Cup.

The Bulldogs have their last full training session on Saturday 19 December and will return as a group on Monday 4 January.