IN JUST his 11^th game of senior footy, Joel Smith took to Optus Stadium in a Preliminary Final last year.

On the back of that, the 23-year-old was rightfully eyeing off a big 2019 campaign, but fast forward 12 months and he hasn’t added to his tally.

The untapped talent was struck down by a groin injury in the pre-season, and while it put an end to his year, he has well and truly put that behind him.

“It was very frustrating,” Smith told Melbourne Media.

“I went down in that second JLT then didn’t play again, so I guess it was frustrating both mentally and physically for me, but I’m past it and just moving onto this year now.

“We’ll put that year aside and we’ll move on.”

Smith is determined to get back to his best, and to do so, he has had to put in the hard yards early this off-season.

“The workload has been really solid,” he said.

“My program is a little bit different to the rest of the boys just because I missed so much footy last year.

“I’ve been training pretty hard over the last two months to get my body right so I can attack this pre-season pretty solid and have a good year.”

On the back of the injury setback, the defender-turned-forward has been left with a lot of work to do ahead of the 2020 season.

“I’ve been doing a lot of weights – running is slowly building up,” he said.

“I’m just getting my core and whole body strong again. I lost a fair bit of that last year because I couldn’t really do much.

“That’s been the biggest focus, getting my body right again.

“I’ve probably put on a few more kilos which will help my size, so I think this year is going to be pretty good for me and I’m confident I can have an impact.”

Smith is one of many Melbourne players who will benefit from the addition of performance manager Darren Burgess, and he’s excited to see what the club’s new recruit has in store for him.

“I’m not too sure what the actual pre-season will look like but from what I’ve heard it’s going to be a lot more intense,” he said.

“I think the schedule around the whole training program will be a little bit different which is exciting.

“I’m looking forward to that. It’s something different and new but I think everyone on the list is pretty excited about what’s to come.”

While Smith’s program remains slightly altered at this stage, he’s looking to get back among his teammates sooner rather than later.

“I’m going to be training back at the club next week, just a few times a week, and when all the first five-year boys come back, the plan is to do some training with them,” he said.

“I’m not sure what my pre-season will look like, it might be a bit more maintained in a way just to get through.

“I want to do a full pre-season of course, but I’ll do whatever it takes to get me through.”