Carlton big man Matthew Kreuzer says a smooth summer of training has him expecting much bigger things this AFL season after last year’s frustrating fizzer.
The talented 22-year-old ruck-forward only returned from a serious knee injury in round 12 last year.
He failed to recapture top form, before his season ended abruptly, when foot numbness forced him out for the finals.
It was a cruel blow for the Blues, who came within a whisker of making a preliminary final, despite also missing fellow big men Jarrad Waite and Shaun Hampson and versatile star Bryce Gibbs.
Kreuzer had minor post-season surgery to clean up the knee, while the foot problem, found to be caused by a cyst in his calf, cleared up after several weeks’ rest.
That enabled Kreuzer to attack pre-season training with vigour, with the key Blue saying he had developed much greater confidence in his knee.
“Last year I did all the rehab and that, but you just don’t have the games under your belt, so you’re not sure how it’s going to cope,” he said on Tuesday.
“But a full pre-season, you’re jumping, marking, doing everything, you forget about it really.”
Kreuzer said the setbacks of the past two years had fuelled his motivation to make the most of this season.
“Coming off the knee, I was frustrated with that, not quite being able to reach the fitness level I wanted,” he said.
“It was frustrating playing, then having the calf injury made me more frustrated.
“This pre-season I’ve just wanted to get through all of that, get fully fit and get into this year.”
If Kreuzer and Waite are fit and firing, Carlton will like their chances of achieving their aim of a top four finish, given they fell just short of that mark with a makeshift attack late last season.
“Last year we lost all the big men, so we sort of had to figure some other ways to get the ball down there and kick goals,” Kreuzer said.
“Obviously if we’ve got some big blokes down there, it’s going to make it a little easier for us.”
Kreuzer was speaking after Carlton’s VFL affiliate were officially re-launched as the Northern Blues, having previously been the Northern Bullants.
The VFL club will now wear navy blue guernseys.