Brodie Smith will play his first game of football in over 10 months this Saturday afternoon, set to lace up the boots for the Crows’ SANFL team against Central District at Elizabeth Oval.
The damaging half-back successfully completed Adelaide’s main training session at West Lakes on Wednesday morning, clearing the final hurdle in his rehabilitation from a ruptured ACL suffered in Adelaide’s 2017 Qualifying Final win over Greater Western Sydney.
Smith couldn’t hide his excitement when asked about returning to action, also embracing the prospect of playing his first State League game
“I can’t wait. I’m super excited. Later in the week, I’ll get really, really excited,” Smith said.
“I’m actually looking forward to getting out to the SANFL as well, I haven’t played for the Adelaide side in the SANFL.
“I’ve played for the Eagles back in 2012, so get the opportunity to play with a lot of guys on the list that I haven’t played with yet so I’m really looking forward to that.
“Obviously I’ve missed a lot of footy, I just can’t wait to get back out there.
“I’ve trained my arse off now for a long time so to get the reward of playing, it’s really exciting.”
Brodie Smith at Crows training on Wednesday
Following his knee reconstruction last September, Smith was expected to spend the customary 12 months on the sidelines.
However, the 26-year old has pushed his body to its limits, determined to be a part of any potential Crows finals run after missing out on the 2017 finals campaign that ended in the Grand Final defeat to Richmond.
“As soon as I had surgery, the surgeon Will Duncan likes to say 12 months,” Smith said.
“Straight away I just said to him it has to be 11 because obviously the finals coming up and the year we had last year I didn’t want to miss out on finals again.
“I’m still confident we can get there [to Finals] and that’s why I’ve still pushed to come back this week and put my hand up to get back as soon as possible.”
Smith has full confidence in his body withstanding the pressures of competitive football, describing his recovery as ‘pretty smooth sailing’ excluding one minor setback earlier in the year which was quickly resolved.
“Once I got that out of the way I’ve been really confident I’d be able to get back and coming into main training it’s felt fine,” he said.
“Had a lot of contact at training. I think my first main session Tex cleaned me up and it felt good there so that was a real confidence booster for me.
“So now I’m full steam ahead and ready to get in there.”
