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Clay Smith hopes to be back early season
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WESTERN Bulldogs youngster Clay Smith is making strong progress in his bid to return from his latest knee reconstruction and hopes to be back playing in the early stages of the season.
Smith ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee for the second time in July last year, rounding out a challenging period in his young career.
But he has joined his Bulldogs teammates in modified training drills and expects he will progress into a revised version of full contact training in the coming weeks.
"Within the early stages of the season, I hope I'll be back playing football," Smith, 21, told AFL.com.au.
"(Being back at training) is much better than running around an oval by myself at 7.30 in the morning, that's for sure.
"It's been great to join in the drills and actually feel like I'm part of the team again."
After playing 30 games in his first two seasons at AFL level (16 in 2012 and 14 in 2013), Smith managed just one match in 2014.
The tough inside midfielder has been cruelled by injury in the past two seasons, starting with his first torn ACL in July 2013.
His attempted comeback from the knee reconstruction was stalled in April last year after salmonella poisoning, and an AC joint injury in round 10 last season, his only game for the year, caused further disruptions.
Then just as Smith was getting himself ready for an AFL return, his knee went on him for a second time in a VFL hit-out.
The past 19 months have been tough, but Smith, pick No.17 in the 2011 NAB AFL Draft, said he was better prepared to deal with everything that goes with being in rehabilitation this time around.
"The first knee I probably struggled with because I was pushy and wanted to do more and I didn't really understand why (I couldn't)," Smith said.
"But this time around I've dealt with it a lot better. I've known what I've been in for.
"It's a bad thing because you know how long it (the recovery process) takes, but it's a good thing because you can set yourself and you know which areas to work on that can really help you to get back."
The whole experience has made Smith realise how important football is in his life.
"It probably made it worse that I played a lot of footy in my first couple of years," Smith said.
"I had the feeling of playing senior footy and starting to get into feeling like you're part of the team.
"It definitely makes you appreciate how good it is to be out there playing AFL and to be fully fit and training."
FFC: Established 1883
Premierships: AFL 1954, 2016 VFA - 1898,99,1900, 1908, 1913, 1919-20, 1923-24, VFL: 2014, 2016 . Champions of Victoria 1924. AFLW - 2018.
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Re: Clay Smith hopes to be back early season
Go Clay. This kid is a ripper!
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Re: Clay Smith hopes to be back early season
Look at the size of those arms.
They say Burt Lancaster has one, but I don't believe them.
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Re: Clay Smith hopes to be back early season
Clay is the type of player you really want on your team. Hope he has an injury free season. If anyone deserves it Clay does.
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Post Thanks / Like - 0 Thanks, 1 Likes
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Re: Clay Smith hopes to be back early season
Originally Posted by
Twodogs
Look at the size of those arms.
Settle down Twodogs!
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Post Thanks / Like - 0 Thanks, 1 Likes
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Re: Clay Smith hopes to be back early season
Don't rush it, Clay. Take your time, you're young, you can still have a 200 game AFL career, just make sure your knee has had enough time to heal properly.
Officially on the Bus-wagon
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Post Thanks / Like - 0 Thanks, 1 Likes
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Re: Clay Smith hopes to be back early season
This becomes an important date in our calendar now.
They say Burt Lancaster has one, but I don't believe them.
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Re: Clay Smith hopes to be back early season
Originally Posted by
Twodogs
Look at the size of those arms.
Check out the guns on the coach!
Listening to Brahm's 3rd Racket
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Re: Clay Smith hopes to be back early season
Originally Posted by
The Doctor
Check out the guns on the coach!
He's not the type I would go out of my way to annoy or upset.
They say Burt Lancaster has one, but I don't believe them.
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Re: Clay Smith hopes to be back early season
Seen about 5000 pictures of Clay now.
Not in a single one of them does he look sane. God I can't wait until he's back playing.
Western Bulldogs: 2016 Premiers
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Post Thanks / Like - 0 Thanks, 2 Likes
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Re: Clay Smith hopes to be back early season
They say Burt Lancaster has one, but I don't believe them.
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Re: Clay Smith hopes to be back early season
Originally Posted by
Twodogs
He does look deranged.
Jack is also a big boy
FFC: Established 1883
Premierships: AFL 1954, 2016 VFA - 1898,99,1900, 1908, 1913, 1919-20, 1923-24, VFL: 2014, 2016 . Champions of Victoria 1924. AFLW - 2018.
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Re: Clay Smith hopes to be back early season
Every great team has a couple of very angry man in them. So we are covered in that department.
They say Burt Lancaster has one, but I don't believe them.
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Re: Clay Smith hopes to be back early season
He's got an old-fashioned head on him, Redpath, wouldn't look out of place in a 1930s team photo.
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Re: Clay Smith hopes to be back early season
Originally Posted by
Bertie Wooster
He's got an old-fashioned head on him, Redpath, wouldn't look out of place in a 1930s team photo.
Jack Redpath looks like the shy, laconic kid in the platoon whe turns out to be the hero in war films.
They say Burt Lancaster has one, but I don't believe them.