Nathan Grima didn’t have long to prepare for his first game in nearly two years.

Signed on the eve of the season, the former North Melbourne player underwent a closely monitored training regime geared towards getting him fit and match ready for the start of the season.

Every minute counted in Grima’s condensed preparations.  Even the final minutes before his comeback match.

In the lead-up to the match against the Swans, Grima warmed up in a pair of black boots on loan from Captain Brendon Goddard.

“He wanted a pair of white boots because he thought the black ones made him look slow,” Goddard told Bomber Radio.

A slip in the warm up had Grima looking for an alternative.

But Goddard only had limited options.

“He asked me for a white pair and I said I’ve only got a white pair that I’ve signed and was going to give to charity and he said that’ll do,” Goddard said.

“Then he got nervous before the game because he slipped over in the black pair…so he put the white ones on literally after our last warm up before the first bounce.

“I didn’t notice until he walked past me in the centre and started laughing.”

A short pre-season, timed to the minute – but by the first bounce Grima was ready to go, comfortable in his new autographed footwear.