Roughead, who was in Ballarat on Wednesday to visit his old school Damascus College, told The Courier he went under the knife to clear up an injury that he carried throughout the club’s historic campaign.

“I just had a little clean out of the hip, just to get it back to as close to 100 per cent as we can,” he said.

“I had a bit of an issue with it through the pre-season and then copped a knock in round one that just tore a bit of cartilage in there, so it was just something that I had to manage for the year.

“It wasn’t massively restricting or anything, but it was just something that nags on you and if you leave it in there long-term it can do a bit of damage to the hip, so we fix it up and get it right again.”

Roughead expects to be fit to commence full training when the club returns for pre-season later this year.

The 25-year-old also revealed he is still battling some issues with the eye injury he sustained in the preliminary final win over GWS Giants and that threatened to keep him out of the grand final triumph over the Sydney Swans.

Roughead said he will require annual check-ups on the eye, which was struck with the football following a clearing kick from a Giants player.

“The only thing that gets me is sunlight. Bright days, it takes me a while to adjust, but it’s almost as good as it was before, so I can’t complain,” he said.

Roughead came close to text messaging fellow Bulldogs ruckman Tom Campbell to tell him to prepare to take his place in the team when it was unclear if he would be able to play in the grand final.

But what he did to ensure he could get up for the match – including spending days in a dark room to allow his eye to heal – was “certainly worth it” in the end, said Roughead.

“There was a few boring days, but like I’ve said, I’d do it all 100 times over to win another premiership,” he said.