"I'M BACK, guys."

Despite fears she would never play the game again, Chloe Scheer said those words while walking into Geelong's auditorium for her first media conference in at least two years, having missed the entire 2024 and 2025 seasons with various injuries.

Now 26, the one-time All-Australian is one of the most enjoyable players in the league to watch when she's up and running, a bullocking, powerful and natural mid-sized forward, who harks back to an older era of the game but with all the trappings of the new.

A debilitating foot injury wiped out 2024, needing multiple surgeries with pain so bad at one point she couldn't walk around the block.

Then there was a knee that just wouldn't settle last year, and while she got closer to a comeback, was ultimately put on ice.

"It's definitely the darkest times I've been through, both mentally and physically, thinking I would never get back at one point. Just because it just kept dragging out, and I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere," Scheer said.

"But to my credit, I stuck fat, and I love football. I love this club, and there's nothing more I wanted to do than get back. I'm very driven.

"Definitely not (close to returning in 2024). I was probably closer in '25 than '24, especially because initially that's when the injury happened with the foot. And I just didn't get that right. I reached out to David Long, the men's doctor at the time, and he got me onto the right people to help get me back on track. That was definitely hard, definitely tough. 

"It was one thing after another. There were so many curveballs thrown at me. Probably from that mental capacity – am I going to get back? Is this going to end? The support I've had from our medical team and Dom (Condo, head of footy) to help me get back on track has been nothing short of amazing. Dr Long, he was a massive part of it. Even Jim Bostock (a pain management specialist physio) up in Brissie, I went to see him to just get a bit more extra support. All of those extra things add up to getting me here."

The rust is starting to wear off now, with 7.4 across her first four games, and a reunion with her previous club Adelaide awaits in her former hometown on Saturday, having played 17 games for the Crows across her three seasons there.

Scheer has mostly been on carefully managed minutes over the month, with 50 per cent game time in round one, 60 per cent in round two, 79 in round three when injuries hit the team hard, and back to 64 last week.

"When I get out there with a footy in my hand, all that [mental stress] just goes away. Last year, my knee was still flared up. I had a scope because I had a meniscus tear, and that needed cleaning up, then I was trying to push to get back, and it was a little bit rushed," Scheer said.

"That was hard in itself, but going into the off-season, to be able to build – there were even a couple of curveballs at the start of this year that I had to overcome, but I'm in the best mental headspace I've been in, in years. I don't really care about that stuff now to be fair, I'm just moving forward.

"There were times, especially with my foot injury, when I couldn't even go for a walk around the block, I was in that much pain. Any opportunity I get to run, kick the footy with the girls, just do touch, anything – they all add up. That's where it's at for me, just that consistency piece. 

"I think the good part and what makes it easier is how experienced our forward line is. I have played with these girls before, so that's also made it a lot easier to get back, too."

Scheer became enamoured with the NFL during her lengthy time off, adopting the Minnesota Vikings as her team, but won't be able to attend Friday's match at the MCG because she'll be travelling to Adelaide.

"I'm excited to see family, I've got a few of them ('hopefully 20-plus') coming. Adelaide is quite different to the last time I played them, the group is different. I'm looking forward to the challenge," she said.

"They're coming off a good win against Hawthorn, away from home, so we're going to have to play our best footy for four quarters to beat them, but our belief is there."