WESTERN Bulldogs veteran Dale Morris says he's never been more nervous in his life than when facing recent tests on his knee.

The 36-year-old, who is recovering from an ACL injury, played in front of 99,000 people in the 2016 Grand Final and has handled some of the game's greatest forwards, but passing tests from knee specialist David Young had brought the most anxiety.

"There is so many things surrounding it, just whether it is going to hold up or not," Morris said on the Bulldogs' Freedom In The Cage podcast.

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"The scans show it was pretty good, but nothing is pretty good until 'Youngy' has been through it.

"Going through that ACL test is nerve-racking enough.

He tried every test there is and we passed all of them, so that's a couple of boxes ticked.

Morris injured his right knee at training in March after playing both JLT Community Series pre-season games.

The defender also suffered a tear in his left ACL prior to the 2018 season and managed to return to AFL level by round 11.

He has resumed running in the past week and is positive about his progress, albeit with an element of caution.

"I've had a few runs now and we're slowly going to build that up," he said.

"But the ACL at the moment, you think about it like a piece of rope. Where the rupture was, or the partial tear was, you can pull that rope apart and it frays.

"At the moment, we're trying to get that back together. (I've) still got a bit of a way to go for it to really lock in and heal."