The highly skilled, super quick 23-year-old has endured an injury-marred five-year stint at Collingwood since being drafted in 2004, managing just 17 senior games in that time.
Another injury-plagued season in 2009 was almost the final straw for Rusling, but he’s in good shape as he takes part in his fourth Arizona camp.
He even took the opportunity to voluntarily leave for the USA a week early with teammates Nick Maxwell, Dale Thomas, Scott Pendlebury, John McCarthy, Travis Cloke, Dayne Beams and Tarkyn Lockyer for some extra altitude training in Boulder, Colorado, and is attacking the pre-season full of vigour.
“The body’s actually feeling really good,” Rusling said.
“I really enjoyed it (Colorado), and I’ve come here with the body feeling really good, and I’m excited about the next two weeks.”
After recovering from shoulder surgery early this year, cheekbone and hip flexor injuries restricted Rusling to a handful of VFL appearances in 2009, and it came so close to ending his AFL career.
“That (retirement) was definitely an option (in 2009), I’m not going to lie, it did enter my head and I maybe thought ‘enough is enough’.
“But, in the end, when I speak to the surgeons and so forth, it’s only really my shoulder, and my shoulder feels really good.
“The procedure I had last time is a bit different to the ones I've previously had, and it seems to have come out the best possible case.
“The rest of me feels good, and the mind still wants to play, so it made the decision pretty easy… why not (play on)?"
