IT hasn’t been the easiest of starts, but first-year Hawthorn rookie Luke Surman is finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

Restricted by stress fractures in his back throughout his first six months as a Hawk, Surman made his long-awaited return to football last weekend, through Box Hill Hawks’ development side.

On Sunday, he will take another step forward, after being named to make his senior VFL debut against Frankston.

The journey hasn’t been easy – but his hard work is starting to pay off.

“I had a pretty delayed start to pre-season,” the 18-year-old told hawthornfc.com.au.

“I had a couple of stress fractures, which kept me to completely nothing for about six to eight weeks. Then it was about eight to nine weeks of building up – starting off with some light running, moving into some more match simulation stuff as I got closer to playing.”

On his return to footy, Surman managed two goals in limited game time.

“I was a bit knackered – I’ve still got to build a bit of match fitness, but I played the second half and it all went well,” he said.

“I started off forward and then had a bit of a run around in the ruck as well, so I managed to get a bit of a jump at the footy and get back to doing that. It was good to be back in among the heat of the contest again.”

“(I kicked) a couple of goals, but I missed one I would’ve liked to kick. But it’s all going well and it was nice to get on the end of a couple.”

The 197-centimetre South Australian, who can play at both ends of the ground and in the ruck, says now that he’s back in regular training, he’s starting to find his feet as an AFL footballer.

“It probably hasn’t been the smoothest transition without being able to complete a lot of the pre-season,” Surman said.

“I’m just starting to find my feet to be honest, which is nice. The boys are all good lads, so it’s easy to get along with them and I’m starting to settle into the routine of training and weekly commitments, and some games.”