JUMPING and landing might not seem like a difficult lesson for most footballers, but it could end up saving Max Bailey’s career.

The Hawthorn ruckman has a fair claim to being the AFL’s unluckiest footballer, playing just six senior games in four years while overcoming three knee reconstructions - two to his right knee and one to his left.

The road to recovery is to Bailey what the Hume Highway is to truck drivers but this time around he is doing things a little differently.

The 23-year-old has been working with sports injury guru Mark McGrath to rectify his jumping and landing style to ensure that he has no more major setbacks.

“Mark has studied a whole lot of different areas. People ask me what he does and I can’t really explain it,” Bailey said.

“He has helped me with the jump and land stuff and being able to position my body in the right way so that I’m less of a chance to injure myself.”

Bailey’s latest setback came in round 22 last season when he ruptured his ACL against Essendon.

While he was still just 22 years old at the time, the injury could have spelt the end of his brief career, but Hawthorn’s faith meant Bailey was kept on board for 2010.

Robbie Campbell’s off-season retirement and a raft of injuries to Hawthorn’s big men has left the ruck stocks looking bare.

While he is still inexperienced at AFL level, it is not lost on Bailey that he would probably be one of the first selected in Hawthorn’s team if he was available.

“It is pretty frustrating but Simon Taylor has been in the same position now and no doubt he’d be playing. Wayde Skipper as well, so it’s pretty frustrating for all of us,” he said.

“It’s good to see Brent Renouf in there though. He’s been doing a bloody good job in tough circumstances and I think he’s been able to progress a bit quicker than maybe he would have otherwise.”

But it might not be long until Bailey is back in the brown and gold.

He is back running and doing leg weights and while cautious not to set a date, he could return in the last half of the season.

“I’m about seven months into things now and hopefully I’m about a month away from getting into training,” he said.

Bailey has reason to feel sorry for himself but he is eternally grateful for the faith the Hawks have shown.

“It does get me down sometimes but I’m still lucky in a lot of respects to still be at the club," he said. "I haven’t had too much bad luck to still be in a job.

"It is pretty frustrating, especially when everyone else is out there playing and I’m just sitting there by myself.”

Plenty of helpful hands have been extended to Bailey as he seeks a return to the field but he says it has got to a point where is relying on his own inner drive.

“I’ve spoken to a few people like Luke Darcy," Bailey said. "He was quite good and I’ve spoken to a pretty broad range of people but I guess there is only so much you can garner from them before you go about it yourself.

"You get the information you need and I don’t think there is too much point talking to too many people about it.

“I’d like to think I can still have a successful career. I used to think that the years I had lost by being injured I might be able to add onto the other end of my career. I don’t know if that’s possible but I’d hope to play for a long time to come. That’s the plan anyway.”