Watts needs surgery after bad AFL injury

Carlton key forward Charlie Curnow is confident he has avoided a season-ending knee injury in Saturday's AFL win over Port Adelaide.

But Port Adelaide will be without defender Jack Watts for a long spell after he needed surgery.

Watts suffered a broken leg and dislocated ankle when his right leg was trapped in a tackle in the third quarter of Port's win against Carlton on Saturday night.

The 28-year-old had surgery on Sunday.

"It's too early to be putting a specific timeline on his recovery at this stage," Port's head of medical services Tim O'Leary said in a statement.

Curnow hurt his right knee in the Adelaide Oval game and there were concerns that he might have ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament, meaning a knee reconstruction.

But Curnow was upbeat on Sunday morning after scans.

"That's all cleared, I'm pretty sure," Curnow told Channel Nine.

"It feels pretty good, I just pulled up a bit sore last night."