Brisbane Lions swingman Daniel Merrett remains hopeful of joining his teammates in Arizona for the Club's high altitude training camp in November, despite nursing serious ankle injury.

In an exclusive interview with LIONS TV, Merrett said he expected to be back up and running in around 10 weeks.

“I’ll start running in about 10 weeks, which coincides with the trip to Arizona,” Merrett said.

“Fingers-crossed if I don’t have any hiccups, I should be right to go at the start of next season.”

Merrett underwent surgery following an incident early in the third quarter against the Western Bulldogs in Round 22 at the Gabba.

“The foot’s pretty screwed at the moment – I ended up getting 10 screws and a plate put in my ankle,” he said.

“I’ve fractured the fibula bone, which is the small one, not the main tibia bone which is a positive.

“It was a pretty big operation.”

One of Merrett’s main concerns, however, is the inconvenience associated with having a large cast permanently strapped to his lower leg and having to walk around with crutches.

“I’ll be on crutches for about six weeks, which is going to be pretty annoying,” he said.

“It’s already causing a bit of chaos with our B&F on Friday night. I bought a brand new suit the other day and I made sure I got the legs taken in really tight, but now I can’t get them over the cast.

“So I may not be able to wear my new suit, which is a bit of a shame.

“I bought a new surfboard too, so nothing’s working for me at the moment. I won’t be able to get on that until after Christmas.”