Mason Wood will hit the ground running this the pre-season, after a patient recovery from a knee injury.

The 23-year-old suffered damage to his medial ligament after an opponent fell across his left knee in Round 16.
Wood said he was excited about what lay in store in 2017.

“The knee’s really, really good. Everything structurally is 100 per cent. The medial repair’s been perfect for a while. The meniscus is set where it needs to be,” Wood told NMFC.com.au.

Wood revealed he had a minor setback, which may have cost him a place in the Roos’ finals side.

“It was just a little bit of post-surgery soreness, which is what you get,” he said.

“Some people get it for two or three weeks, some people get it for a week. I was just unlucky that it got really sore for a week when I was ramping up those training loads. It just put me on the backfoot from that point of view.”

The good news? He’s now firmly focused on taking his game to another level.

“It was a little bit disappointing (missing the final), but I’ll leave the season not having any issues with my knee and being able to go into a full off-season. I won’t be hampered at all,” Wood said.

“I’m really looking forward to getting back into some serious training to be honest.

“I’ve had a lot of time off and a lot of time watching other people doing what I haven’t been doing, so although it will be a well-needed break, I think I’ll be itching to get back when it comes to day one in Utah or when we’re back here.”

Wood was a shining light in his eight games this season, kicking at least a goal in every game.

“You don’t want to plateau. You want to keep improving and that’s really all I can do, is improve for 2017 and years beyond,” he added.

“With ‘Drewy’ (Petrie) not going to be here and a younger forward line now, it’s going to be really exciting at the same time, but a lot of pressure to prove the point that I can play at this level.”