Emerging North Melbourne forward Charlie Comben will return to running this week, after recovering from a minor back injury.

“I played a pre-season game against Melbourne and pulled up quite sore through the lower region of my back,” Comben told North Media.

“I went for a scan the next week and it turned out I had a small fracture under my L5 and lumbar spine.”

Like skipper Jack Ziebell, Comben was able to avoid an extended run of games missed, with the season hiatus providing valuable recovery time.

“I kind of went into a rehab phase over the isolation period, working closely with the physio Matt Turnbull,” he said.

“I’ve come out and a had scan last week and that’s all cleared up, so I’m keen to get back into running sometime this week.”

The 18-year-old also took the chance to address another minor issue. 

“In the pre-season I just had what felt like a little bone chip floating around from a previous surgery. I just had that cleared out two weeks ago and that’s already fully healed,” he said. 

Pick 31 at last year’s Draft, Comben provided plenty of reason for excitement during the pre-season, looking at home in a key-forward post during several practice matches.

“I’ll start running this week. It’ll be introductory for maybe four weeks, and then into conditioning from there. I’ll put my hand up as soon as possible.”

Watch the full Comben interview below.