Prized off-season acquisition Nathan Freeman will make a long awaited return to football on Saturday morning when he plays for Sandringham’s reserves in the opening round of the VFL.

The former top-ten draft pick has been plagued by persistent hamstring troubles during his time in the AFL, firstly with Collingwood for two years, before he joined St Kilda during last year’s trade period.

Saints coach Alan Richardson was thrilled with Freeman’s return, lauding the 20-year-old’s resilience during a difficult time for the midfielder. Although despite being buoyed by Freeman’s return, Richardson refused to look too far into the future and put a forecast on an AFL debut.

“It’s really positive for ‘Freezer’ I think we all know that it’s been a challenge for the young man. His attitude and his character, typified by his resilience has been outstanding. So we’re really excited for him,” Richardson told the media on Friday.

“He has the potential to be a really exciting player for us, but it’s still going to take a while. We would expect him to be in the VFL for a while.

“He needs to make sure that he’s at the speed and at the level before he comes into the AFL team. I wouldn’t want to put a time on that but it will be an extended period. He’s playing seconds seconds on the weekend, but we’ll just see how he goes from there.”

Following a minor setback prior to the Christmas interval, Freeman has gradually transitioned back into full training in recent times, with the club taking every precautionary with a player they view as a long-term investment.

“About six weeks Freeman’s been in full training,” Richardson said.

“It’s a bit longer than normal, but when you haven’t played significant footy for two years, we needed to make sure we went above and beyond really, in terms of making sure he was right to go.

“He’s been really strong; he’s been at top speed for a couple of weeks now, so he’s ready to go.”