Mason Wood’s past two seasons have been impacted by injury, but the key-forward is focused on the season ahead and can only be helped by a clear run.
His preparation is vital.
“I spent a lot of my off-season doing things that made my body more durable versus getting really fit or really strong,” Wood told NMFC.com.au.
“It was more about making sure the hamstrings were strong, calves were strong, glutes … all the stuff that’s going to keep getting me on the park was just the main focus.”
Remaining optimistic throughout the setbacks, Wood admits he has learnt a great deal from his experiences.
“Doing my hamstring, you sort of go – I’ve missed out on so much stuff, you start asking yourself whether everything is against you, but at the same time you’ve got to start somewhere. I had to get strong enough so I did a lot of gym work early to get myself in a position to run.
“It’s good character-building stuff and it really just makes you want to be across everything with your body.”
The number 32 spent eight weeks on the sidelines last season after injuring his hamstring in the first JLT game against Sydney Swans, then a clean-out in his knee.
Wood returned to play the next 10 games before partially tearing the tendon in his calf, which sidelined him for the remainder of the season.
“It turned out to be worse than what was initially thought and probably pushing it a little bit quicker than we should’ve, it took about four weeks to actually start moving.
“The hamstring was probably the worst of the year, because that probably set me up in the position where I did my calf.
“l ended up doing 50 per cent of what you would normally do as far as leg weights, strengthening, getting hip strength up, running, and it really put me on the back foot for the whole year.”
The 24-year-old said the year said knowing his own body was key to his recovery.
“As much as you put all the faith in the physios, you also need to get to know your own body,” Wood said.
“Mentally you need to know what works for you, what makes your body get up, what works well and what doesn’t and what is going to be counter-productive.”
As of last Monday, Wood hasn’t missed a beat among the main training group, and is looking forward to the year ahead with a promising young list.
“I think we are in just as a strong position as we were last year structurally, and game awareness is better that it was last year so I’m really looking forward to it,” he added.
“I’m itching to get back out there, it’s going to be a really interesting year and a really exciting one at the same time.”