SAM GILBERT believes he can get back to senior football this year after being cut down by the repeat of a pre-season foot injury in April.
The 27-year-old spent nearly three months in a moon boot after the second flare up of the stress fracture on his fifth metatarsal bone in his left foot.
However, he's broken through to start running again and believes he'll play in the VFL in five weeks' time, which could pave the way for a senior return around round 20.
"It's definitely my goal. I want to get back out there and play this year," Gilbert told AFL.com.au this week.
"It's a really good stage for me now because I'm running again.
"The first couple of weeks were probably where you're most down and disappointed because it seems like such a long journey.
"For me now, I'm kind of coming to the downhill slope of it so I'm just looking forward to getting back out there and having a kick."
Gilbert isn't sure why he sustained the initial injury in early February.
He said there could have been a range of contributing factors including the type of shoes he was wearing and the hardness of the surfaces the Saints were training on.
But simply, he believes a heavy training load caused the stress fracture to form, which had to be surgically mended.
"It was just too much running in the pre-season with not enough time to off load it," he said.
"It was unfortunate and I'm not really sure how mine came about but it's something I've had to deal with.
"It can be tricky because it's one of those things where it can feel fine and if you're whole body is feeling good, all you want to do is get out there and start training again.
"But it's one of those things you've got to be really careful of and you've really got to wait and listen to the physios and do the right thing."
The injury flared again after their round three loss to West Coast and it was thought Gilbert would miss another month.
But subsequent scans later in April showed the fracture had failed to mend and he was ordered to keep resting it completely.
Encased in a moon boot for over 10 weeks total with bone stimulation treatment using a special machine, Gilbert faced a long road back to running.
He kept himself busy with TAFE study, working on tackling with some of the younger Saints like Brodie Murdoch, and raising money for the Leukaemia Foundation by shaving his head in March.
The long-term prognosis is good with a full recovery expected.
Gilbert conceded it had been hard watching the Saints' recent plight, which has involved eight consecutive losses – including a 145-point loss to Hawthorn in round seven and a 96-point defeat by Geelong two weeks ago.
But he felt encouraged by what he had seen away from the field and the direction he believed the club was headed.
"It can be frustrating at times but I can also see what we're trying to do and the development that's actually happening behind the scenes, which has been really positive," he said.
"The results are not what we're after and some of the efforts haven't quite been there but behind the scenes, what we put into the match each week and what we want to improve on is still improving.
"That's all I can I see and I think it's positive."
