Young defender Alex Browne is confident he will receive the ‘green light’ to resume full scale training this week, 12 months after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament.

Browne suffered the injury after getting his knee trapped under Gold Coast Suns opponent Timmy Sumner in the club’s NAB Challenge match in early February last year.  

After more than 12 months of rehabilitation, Browne revealed his relief at returning to the training track with his teammates.

“Hopefully after tomorrow I’ll get the green light to go 100% which is really exciting,” Browne said.

“After a long 12 months out, I’m just excited to be back out there and now it will be about trying to get some form and trying to crack into the team.

“I’m not exactly sure of a return date to the field, but as long as I’ve got the green light to go ahead now, I’ll just try and crack in to training and if I’m right for Round 1, that would be great but if not I’ll just keep training hard and trying to get match fit and be ready to go as soon as I can."

Browne said he was also conscious of being mentally prepared to get back in to the high intensity training.

“The knee is alright, but it’s just about everything else now. I think that the last hurdle after getting a knee reco is getting back the confidence and being mentally prepared to take a hit,” Browne said.

“I’m pretty happy with how the knee has gone because I took an extra couple of months to get it right and hopefully it will pay off. But pulling up after sessions and preparing for sessions is a lot different now – it’s all about the muscles around my knee and I have to take care of that.”

Browne said the high training standards of the wider playing group was a motivating factor for his initial return to the track.

“It’s just about getting continuity back into my training and the guys are training at a really high standard at the moment so I really have no other option then to try and train as hard as them,” he said.

“Early on, I had no idea and totally forgot what was going on out on the track and everyone was yelling and screaming and it was a bit chaotic so it did take a couple of weeks to get used to.

“But I am enjoying it; it’s a lot better than being trapped in the gym all year so I’m having fun.”