THREE months after seriously injuring his kidney, defender Phil Davis has received the all-clear from his specialist and will make a welcome return to the field with the Greater Western Sydney reserves on Saturday.
 
Davis took a knock to his kidney in the first quarter of the Giants' round one victory over the Sydney Swans on March 15.
 
He played out the game, but was later taken to hospital, where he would spend almost two weeks and undergo a series of operations that put his career in jeopardy.
 
But he has made good progress, able to take part in all aspects of training outside of contact work in recent weeks.
 
He will wear a special guard to protect his kidney when he plays for the reserves against NT Thunder at Spotless Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
 
"I saw the specialist and he gave me some very good news, so that was very exciting," Davis told the GWS website.
 
"I had the CT scan and it came back that it had fully healed, so that was terrific news.
 
"I've lost a bit of the function, but apart from that it's in as good a shape as it was before.
 
"I've been very fortunate in my recovery, everything has gone really well for me.
 
"The power of my healing has been pretty good, so I'm very happy, very excited and looking forward to having a bit of a run around on Saturday and getting back into it."
 
The Giants' co-captain has taken every precaution in his recovery, but was always hopeful of making a return to the field at some stage this season.
 
It has come sooner than expected and the 23-year-old naturally expects to struggle a bit for fitness when he runs out with his teammates.
 
"I like to think I've been training hard," he said. "I've been able to run for about the last six weeks and it's been a gradual build-up.
 
"I'm feeling in pretty good nick, but you're never in match nick, so I'll probably be puffing and panting a fair bit on Saturday.
 
"I've got a guard and have had it adapted a few times.
 
"It's not bad, it's slightly different to what I'm used to, but the guard will hopefully give me a bit of confidence going forward."
 
Twitter: @AFL_JD