TAYLOR DURYEA hopes his first injury-free beginning to pre-season will enable him to build the foundations of another successful season at AFL level in 2014.

The 22 year old finally made his debut in Round 3 this year and went on to play 18 AFL matches before playing in the VFL premiership win with Box Hill.

Duryea returned to training on Wednesday, where he completed a weights program before joining in with the first to fourth year players for a skills session on Friday morning.

With this pre-season his fifth at the Club, the defender wasn’t due back for pre-season training until 2 December.

He says he will take part in further sessions next week too, to get a jump on pre-season to prepare himself as best he can for the return of his more senior teammates.

“I felt because I’ve only played one season of senior footy that I’ve got a bit of catching up to do, so I thought I’d join in for a couple of sessions this week and next before I’m officially back,” he told hawthornfc.com.au after the session at Box Hill City Oval.

“My last session was Wednesday, so I did a bit of an intro and then today managed to step it up a bit but I’m definitely blowing.”

With the retirement of veteran defender Brent Guerra, General Manager – Football Operations Chris Fagan hinted there’s a place in the Hawks’ best 22 for Duryea to make his own.

A 179cm defender, Duryea is built similarly to Guerra and fulfils a role like that of the departed dual premiership player, with the ability to play on the opposition’s small forwards plus the capability to attack off half back with his good foot skills.

Duryea hopes his early start to pre-season will build the foundation he needs to take advantage of the opportunities in front of him.

“The last two pre-seasons I’ve done, I’ve had post-season surgery so for me, this pre-season is going to be pretty big,” he said.

“It’s definitely not my favourite time of the year but you’ve got to make the most of it.

“It does help you come season time, it is a pretty important phase of the year.

“I think I’ve built a good platform from a good season with no surgery so now I can step it up a little bit compared to previous years so I’m excited about that.”

The youngster looked in good shape as he hit the track thanks to his professionalism over the off-season in which he concentrated on conditioning his body for the upcoming pre-season.

“The first couple of weeks, like most players I used it as the time to get a bit of a relaxation in – I managed to go overseas,” he said.

“I’ve built up though over the last three to four weeks until now, so it has been a really good break in terms of conditioning to get my body right.”