WESTERN Bulldogs defender Ryan Hargrave will start his season in the VFL as he attempts to come back from a potentially career-threatening foot injury.

The 29-year-old has been cleared by his surgeon to start running next week after two bouts of surgery on the troublesome foot.

However coach Rodney Eade says the experienced backman will miss at least the first month of the season proper after losing almost his entire pre-season following the initial operation in October and subsequent surgery to reinforce the repair before Christmas.

"He'll need a good eight-week fitness program and we have to make sure he gets a pre-season now," Eade told afl.com.au after the Dogs' intra-club match on Saturday at Whitten Oval.

"We don't want to fast-track his pre-season so we want him to get eight to nine weeks of good solid fitness work, two to three weeks of footy work and then play."

Hargrave was at Saturday's hit-out and walking unaided after what Eade considered a serious and potentially career-threatening injury that required a serious operation in the weeks after the Dogs' 2010 season finished.

"Part of his foot was dead bone so they cut the bone out and took bone out of his hip and screwed it in to generate some growth," Eade said.

"He's tough. He played one season where he had an ankle reconstruction at the end of the year but played from round three with the problem, and he played all of last year with this pain in his foot."

Eade said Hargrave saw the surgeon last week and was given the best news possible, leaving him available for AFL selection in May.

"He has started doing 40-50 minute walks and he can start jogging next week," he said.

"The prognosis from the surgeon was pleasing, so he can up the ante now with his cross-training and more boxing and his running in the water.

"Hopefully that's full steam ahead now."

Another important defensive cog, Brian Lake, missed the intra-club match after a pre-season punctuated by three different operations but Eade said he was on track for the final round of the NAB Cup/Challenge series.

Robert Murphy (ankle) and Sam Reid (shoulder) also missed but are expected to appear in the second round of the pre-season competition, while Adam Cooney (hamstring) will join in a week later.

New rookie and former Sydney Swans utility Ed Barlow missed with a hamstring injury, but remains a chance to line up in next Sunday's opening round against Geelong and North Melbourne.