A timeframe of between “six and 10 weeks” was placed on Jack Ziebell’s knee injury in round one, but the North skipper won’t miss a single game.
While games are still at least another month away, the midfielder has already declared himself fit and ready to go.
That news despite a high-grade medial ligament strain, suffered in the season-opener.
“If I was playing football now, I’d probably be playing this weekend, which is really exciting,” Ziebell said on ABC Grandstand.
“It’s been a bit of a process getting back and a different rehab structure and schedule, just because of the restrictions in place, and the ability to be able to go see physios and doctors and get what you need to do done.
“It’s been a little bit different, but the process has been fantastic; the guys at the club have done a great job.”
While Ziebell has been in recovery mode, his teammates have also been hard at work; the aim, to be ready to play, whenever or wherever the season resumes.
“We’ve been given programs throughout this period to pretty much get ourselves right to go from now on,” he said.
“If we were to get the OK to come back tomorrow and train at the club, most of our guys would be physically capable to do that, without risking injury, and to be able to turn that around really quickly.
“Our training programs have been very flexible in that aspect, and as players we’re pretty much ready to go from now onwards.”
The AFL now hopeful of games being played in June, but will await further government advice before committing to a plan.
“Until decisions are made, we’ve just got to be ready for all sorts of aspects,” Ziebell said.
Some players have expressed concerns at the prospect of spending multiple weeks at a time in hubs, as was floated by the AFL last week.
Ziebell, however, is open to the idea.
“If we were to go into those hubs, I’d be OK with that and I’d enjoy just being able to get back and footy, however that may look,” he said.
The number seven also supportive of playing multiple games in any given week.
“With the amended game-time like we saw in Round 1, that’s going to really work in the players’ favour to be able to execute games with four, five or six-day breaks consistently,” Ziebell added.
“As a player it’s a little bit exciting, because you probably end up doing a lot less training and a lot more games.
“It falls into the US sports model a little bit … you look at the guys in the NBA and they play more than they train, just because of the sheer amount of games played.”