THE journey back from an ACL injury is long and arduous.

It’s filled with time away from your teammates and the completion of a difficult, and sometimes monotonous, rehab program.

But Jake Melksham is choosing to take a different path back to footy, with a new-found perspective on the year that lies ahead of him. 

The 221-gamer suffered the devastating injury blow during the final round of the home-and-away season last year and, seven months on, is taking exciting steps forward.

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Jake Melksham | Rehab Feature

We spoke with Jake Melksham about his road to recovery following his knee injury last year.

“It’s going really well,” Melksham told Melbourne Media.

“I survived the pre-season period, which, for me, was filled with lots of bike, cross-trainer, swims, deep-water runs, all the stuff that doesn’t really tickle AFL players’ [fancies].

“But it’s got to be done and…I would say on the continuum of thriving to not thriving, I was good, I was not far from being my normal self.

“I’m a pretty resilient person, I think being a little bit older and dealing with injury at this age, it’s very different to being 18 or 19 and being taken away from the group.

I think I have a bit more perspective on what’s important, with a young family, they keep me busy and side-track me from those [daunting] thoughts.”

Melksham hit a particularly special milestone most recently, rejoining the main group for certain low-intensity sessions. 

To add further excitement and change into his program, the Demon has also given gymnastics a try, a unique opportunity to build further strength into his knee.

“I’ve re-integrated into training with the group on our fundamentals day, which is what we would call a lower level skills session,” Melksham said.

“So, that's full ground drills, kicking, skills…plenty of running, agility, marking.

“My time away from the field is spent in the gym doing heaps of weights, strengthening my lower body and full body all together.

But I’ve also got a gymnastics session that I do once a week, it’s an hour session that’s filled with heaps of chaos.

“It’s basically just training my knee to prepare to play with jumps, lands, twists in the air, I’m on the spring floor, on the trampoline, doing all sorts of jumps and landing techniques for my knee, just so I can get out there on the field and feel super confident.

“There’s a lot going on, I’m juggling my rehab program and integrating with the main group, my days that I thought would’ve been more free, are, if anything, busier.

“But I like it that way, so it’s been good.”

Known for being a vocal presence within the forward line, using his experience to help his teammates where he can, the injury not only hindered his impact from a physical point of view, but restricted his impact as a leader on-field.

The 32-year-old has now stepped into an informal role, where he works closely with forward’s coach Greg Stafford, adding further value to his place within the club.

“Because I’m only going to be available for the back-end of the year, we looked at ways I could add value to the group,” Melksham said.

“When I’m out there training and playing, I’m trying to coach teammates, lead them and help set up our forward line…and obviously I can’t do that now off-field.  

“So, I thought, I’ve definitely got to continue that in another capacity and so I think being able to help the coaches, Greg Stafford, wherever possible, has been really good.

I have a role but I’m not solving the team’s problems, it’s more just a support role to give them any help that they need, whether it’s some work with drills, generating ideas for drills, craft work.”

Within this new opportunity, Melksham joins the coaching group on game days, travelling with the team and sitting in the box during matches.

As the year continues, he’ll integrate into more coaching responsibilities, developing this skillset further. 

“I sit with Greg in the box for games and watch the forwards and how they go about their work,” Melksham said.

“It’s just another set of eyes on the group and you might see something they don’t, but I’m definitely learning a lot from them as well in the coaches box.

I wanted to learn and see what their week looks like, because it’s completely different to what your week looks like as a player.

“We’re so caught up in performing well and doing what we want individually to play well and collectively for the team.

“They’re also doing the same in their role, they want to coach well, they want to coach well for the team and be collaborative as a coaching group.

“It's interesting to see how they go about it and as the year goes on, I’ll spend more time with them in some of their coaches’ meetings and reviews.

“I’m not just in rehab plodding away, I’m trying to stay busy and connected with the group as much as possible.”

Despite having to remain on the sidelines for at least the first half of the season, Melksham has continued to express his confidence in the group’s ability and what they can achieve in season 2024.

“What you’ll see, and what you’ve seen in recent years, is that when our brand is on show, it’s very hard to beat,” Melksham said.  

“I’m very bullish about this season, I think as the year progresses, we’ll continue to improve.

“We’re setting our standards very high and so we expect nothing less than the ultimate, that’s what we’re trying to achieve, so, I’m looking forward to it.”