Melbourne forward Mitch Clark has admitted to “dark times” as he battled to recover from a serious foot injury last AFL season.
Clark was sidelined after suffering the complicated fracture during the clash with Greater Western Sydney in round 13.
He has only now begun to play competitively, lining up for his first game in the VFL last week after a lengthy recovery period.
Clark is hopeful of playing in the Demons’ opening round clash against Port Adelaide this week but says he still must prove his fitness at training.
“It was good to have a runaround in the VFL at the weekend, although I didn’t play my best game,” Clark said on Tuesday.
“But I got through and that was a great reward for all my hard work in the rehab.”
While he feels he is now fully recovered from the injury, Clark said he had doubts about his return while he was out.
“I suppose being out for so long you are trying to figure out if you can still play footy in a way, but I’ve built up the confidence in training the last month,” he said.
“Obviously I’m going to get better as time goes by. I’m not expecting to pick up where I left off but hopefully I can find that form again.”
Clark has been out of action for almost nine months and said at times he questioned whether he could return.
“You go through a few dark times – it’s a long, hard battle in rehab,” he said.
“I did feel quite guilty because I was stuck in bed for about six weeks. I hated it, to be honest, I wanted to be out there playing.
“I got away, I went to Fiji for a week but I was back pretty much training, most of my time was spent here trying to get right.”
Clark will team with former Collingwood spearhead Chris Dawes in the forward line this year and said the pair should team well, once they understand each other’s game styles.
“We haven’t actually even trained together so we’ve got two sessions to get right,” he said.
“These things do take time but from watching him I’m still trying to learn how he plays and where he moves and where he likes the footy.
“I’m not too sure how it will work but it should be fun. I’ve become quite close to Dawesy over this pre-season.”