Full-back Ben Rutten says he’s confident of being fit for the Crows’ season-opener against Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium on March 31 after successful foot surgery.

Rutten, who has been battling plantar fasciitis, flew to Melbourne last week where a surgeon made a cut in the plantar fascia (the connective tissue on the sole of the foot) to release the tension and relieve the pain in the 28-year-old’s foot.

The one-time All Australian spent several days in a moon boot, but is now walking unaided and said he hoped to be back in full training by mid-March.

“I’ll be back on the bike and also swimming on Monday,” Rutten told afc.com.au.

“I’ll probably do a week of that and then some work on the cross-trainer before progressing to running in 3-4 weeks.

“If all goes to plan I’ll be ready for round one.

“Hopefully, I’ll be able to get a couple of good weeks of training and, maybe, half a game in somewhere beforehand.

“We’ll play it by ear a bit, but that’s the plan.”

Rutten developed soreness in his foot towards the end of last year, but said he was able to manage the condition until he suffered a tear in his plantar fascia last month.

“When it started feeling sore initially I gave it time to rest and had a few other treatments on it, but it wasn’t really responding," he said.

“I tore the plantar fascia a bit a couple of weeks ago and that was decision time for me.

“It was either wear a moon boot for 3-4 weeks and see how it healed, or get the operation done.

“Seeing as we’d tried rest and a few other things, which didn't work, I was keen to do something more definitive.

“The recovery time from the operation isn’t too bad and it was good to get it done.

“I’ve still done a fair bit of work fitness-wise this pre-season, so I’m feeling in good condition.

“I’m just eager to get back into the footy stuff.”

The injury, from which Jason Porplyzia and Chris Knights have both made successful recoveries in the past, has created an opportunity for one of any number of young Crows to fill a key-position role in defence.

Daniel Talia, Luke Thompson, Lewis Johnston, Andy Otten, Sam Shaw and Shaun McKernan could all spend time in the back half during the NAB Cup and Rutten said he would try to help ‘fast-track’ his protégés.

“I’ll be keeping an eye on the young defenders and trying to help out where I can,” he said.

“With a new coach and new style of play, there’s always a lot of learning to do.

“I’m trying to keep up to speed by watching training and watching videos.”