After months of hard work in the club’s cardio room, aptly nicknamed ‘the dungeon’, the popular Swan is back training in Sydney’s morning sunshine as he edges towards a return to full training with the main group for the first time in eight months.
Roberts-Thomson looked in good shape as he completed a lengthy skills training session on Monday morning, including working with the club’s big forwards, Lance Franklin and Kurt Tippett, in defensive and marking drills.
He also was put through his paces in an agility circuit before pulling on his running shoes for some fitness training alongside ruckman Mike Pyke.
Speaking to SwansTV about his rehab journey, the dual premiership player said he was looking forward to doing more skills work and less running over the next two weeks.
“As fun as it is to run laps and to get as fit as possible, chasing the footy is a lot better than just running tedious and monotonous laps around the oval,” he said.
“Starting back a few weeks ago just after Chrissy, I’ve really worked hard on my fitness and my strength, and the knee seems to be feeling pretty good.
“I’m just progressing into some skill work now and hopefully I’ll be right for the practice match in a couple of weeks.”
The last time fans saw the Swans’ number 30 in action in the senior side was in round four last season, when he was forced to leave the SCG early in the clash against Geelong with a knee injury.
The early prognosis for Roberts-Thomson was positive, with the versatile Swan expected to miss no more than six-to-eight weeks.
But complications followed when an arthroscope showed cartilage damage, which led to a slow recovery process that spanned for almost four months.
Roberts-Thomson managed to regain fitness in time to play in the Swans reserves NEAFL Eastern Conference Grand Final victory, but was not included in the senior team’s preliminary final clash against Fremantle the following week, even though he made the trip to Perth.
Following the club’s exit from the finals series, he focused his energies on setting himself up for a big pre-season, and looks well on track to return to football early this season.
“It’s been a pretty good pre-season, I must say,” he said.
“It’s been a long time between drinks.
“Once the break came I was sort of able to refresh and really clear my mind and set myself up for a big pre-season, which is what I’ve done so far.”
Roberts-Thomson has benefitted from working alongside prolific trainers, Adam Goodes and Mike Pyke, who are also on the road to recovery from knee injuries.
“I’ve been training with Pykey and Goodesy, and both of those guys have had knee injuries, so it’s been the three of us and we’ve really been pushing each other both in the cardio room and out on the training track,” he said,
“It’s sort of been a competition between the three of us each training session, and that’s the good thing about the three of us working together because we really get the best out of one another.
“We’ve had Buddy and Tippo join us every now and then, but they haven’t been able to keep up with us, so it’s good to see that we must be doing okay!”
As Roberts-Thompson discovered in his lengthy stint on the sidelines, a lot can change in eight months.
With Tippett settling into the forward line in the second half of 2013 and Franklin expected to add firepower this season, the 30-year-old admitted he was unsure about where he would feature on field in 2014.
But the man known best for his versatility, which was best exemplified in 2012 when he played a defensive role in the Swans qualifying final against Adelaide before shifting forward against Collingwood in the preliminary final two weeks later, said he was keeping his options open.
“I’ll integrate myself into the main group in skills and I’ll work with the coaches to work out a positional plan, whether it’s up forward or down back or even possibly in the midfield,” Roberts-Thomson said.
“There is a big challenge for positions all over the park so it will be interesting to see the line-up of the side.”
Roberts-Thomson said regardless of his role in 2014, he was looking forward to learning from two of the league’s leading forwards.
“I think everyone wants to improve their game and take it to the next level and fortunately with those two (Tippett and Franklin) on the training track you can really learn a lot from those guys,” he said.
“They’ve been around and they know how to kick goals and they know how to play the game so they can give you a few pointers, so it’s really good to train with those guys.”
