Geelong defender David Wojcinski is blessed with wonderful leg speed on the football field, streaming out of the backline with ball in hand a feature of his play.

That pace (without the ball) lay dormant during his younger days, coming out only once a year at the annual school athletics meet.

“I never trained for anything, I just sort of lobbed up,” Wojcinski said of his participation.

But instead of the 100 metre sprint, Wojcinski took part in the long jump and recalls being timed only once over the 100 metres. It was six weeks after he had fully recovered from a broken fibula.

Wojcinski, who was in Year 12 at the time, said he was clocked at a ‘high 12 seconds, going pretty slow’.

With a possible career in professional athletics passing him by, Wojcinski the footballer has taken advantage of his speed across the ground to become one of Geelong’s better players this season.

“You get the ball and just take them on so it (the pace) is something good to have.”

In 2003, he has played eight matches, starting the season in round three but missing rounds nine and 10 with an ankle injury.

Drafted by Geelong in 1998 with the 24th pick, Wojcinski is now five games shy of 50 for the club.

He admits to being a ‘bit down’ as a result of the club’s 3-9 start to the season, particularly because in many of those losses, the team had an opportunity to win the game.

“You get a bit down because in so many games we were so close and lost a few winnable games.

“We just have to go out there and play a bit better and hopefully get over the line a few of those games later on in the year.”

That starts next Friday night at Telstra Dome against Essendon, with Wojcinski indicating he was keen to get out on the field again after a few days away from the club.

“I can’t wait to play actually. Having a week off is good for your body, but still you miss playing.”

“We play well against Essendon, and I’m sure we’ll play well again so we’re really looking forward to it.”