After more than 16 months out of the game, prized St Kilda recruit Jake Carlisle is thrilled to be back on the park and on track to run out for the first time as a Saint against Melbourne in Round 1.
The highly rated key defender made his first pre-season appearance last Thursday night at Etihad Stadium, where the 25-year-old made a positive impact, playing 66 per cent of the game against Port Adelaide.
Having undergone hip surgery midway through his year out of the game, Carlisle spent the first half of the pre-season training away from the main group before returning to full training last month.
“It’s obviously very exciting to be back. It has been a very tough road personally and collectively, and I am just so happy to be back out there again,” Carlisle told the Herald Sun over the weekend.
“It seems like a fresh start and I’m really loving the way it is all panning out. I am very happy where I am at the moment and hopefully I can get a few more games under my belt before Round 1.”
A more circumspect Carlisle conceded that the year on the sidelines might have been what his body needed to overcome the hip and knee issues that lingered during the latter stages of his career at Essendon.
“As much as I wanted to play last year, it was probably a bit of a blessing in disguise. I have now got my body right,” Carlisle said.
“All players play with niggles, but I’ve now been able to get through the knee problems and the hip surgery, which was pretty important. I’d carried them for a couple of years, but I feel really good now.
“I resumed training just after Christmas, in early January, and I was still in and out of training for a bit. I was pulling up a bit sore at times. I was training well, but just with the game stuff (simulation), I was a bit sore afterwards.
“But each week it has been getting better and better. I will probably feel a bit sore after this game, but it is a good sore.”
After six seasons at the Bombers, including three years dominated by the supplements saga, plus a year on the sidelines, Carlisle believes the fresh start was exactly what he needed to reinvigorate him midway through his career.
“Being at one club for a certain time, you can get a bit comfortable. I don’t want to reiterate too much (what has already happened), but what we have all been through was tough,” he said.
“There are always excuses with what happened rocking up to the club, but I felt like getting a fresh start was what I needed.”
