PREMIERSHIP player Matt Spangher will take another step in his return from injury, for Box Hill Hawks tomorrow.
Spangher, who has not played an AFL match since last year’s grand final triumph, was hampered by injury throughout the pre-season, before suffering a hamstring injury playing in the VFL season opener.
He made a long-awaited comeback before the bye for the Box Hill Hawks, playing reduced game time and getting through unscathed.
The 28-year old key position player believes he could start to push for AFL selection over the next month.
“My gut feeling is at least another two or three weeks of VFL footy,” Spangher said.
“I’d like to think there would probably be a good month of VFL before I’d look like making senior selection, but that one’s up to the coaches.”
Spangher said it was nice to finally have the hamstring injury behind him.
“At the moment I’m travelling fine,” he said.
“It was nice to get some game time in before the bye, it was only about 60 minutes but it’s better than nothing.
“To be honest I was happy with the way it went – I got through and found a bit of the footy which was good.”
A favourite among Hawks fans, Spangher said he was focused on building towards playing 100% game time and getting some continuity back into his football.
“I’ve got to be a bit smart about it,” he said.
“Obviously I haven’t played a lot of footy since last year’s grand final, and the last thing I want to do now is get re-injured and ruin my opportunity to assist the side going forward.”
While Spangher hasn’t been playing, he has been working hard behind the scenes to strengthen his body.
“There’s ways to train without putting any weight on your legs – there’s heaps of swimming, bike and boxing and stuff like that,” he said.
“I’ve been doing a lot of work with core stability and pilates, just because a lot of my (injury) problems stem from stuff like that.
“There’s always something to do – (Head Fitness Coach) Andrew Russell and the team, they’re very quick to make sure you’ve got something to do.”
He’s also been doing some other work behind the scenes – hosting one of football most talked about shows, Speed Dating With Spangher.
And he’s got a few teammates lined up to join him for a date in the near future.
“Lakey, he’s one I’m looking forward to having a date with, and Taylor Duryea would be a good one too,” he said.
