WHEN Tyla Hanks fell to the ground in the final stages of a practice match two weeks ago, she instantly feared the worst.

The 18-year-old clutched at her knee as the hit-out against the Casey Demons concluded, but fortunately avoided any serious damage.

“There was 20 seconds to go, and when I went down I thought it was pretty serious, but luckily it’s nothing too bad,” Hanks told Melbourne Media.

“It’s been a bit frustrating sitting on the sidelines but hopefully I’ll be back out there soon.”

While Hanks’ knee has caused a hiccup in her preparations for the season, she was relived the injury wasn’t too severe.

“It was just mainly bone bruising,” she said.

“Pretty much two bones hit together, but no muscle or ligament damage so that was the most important thing to hear.”

This setback puts Hanks’ hopes for a Round 1 debut in doubt, but she will be working hard to return as quickly as possible.

“We’re thinking possibly Round 2, but if everything goes well then Round 1,” Hanks said.

“I’ll start running and see how I go, if there’s no pain I’ll keep progressing.

“Hopefully I’ll be back over the next few weeks.”

Hanks was recruited with Melbourne’s top selection at the 2018 AFLW National Draft – pick No.6 – and has shown some great promise in her time at the club.

Although the high selection comes with some additional external pressure, she isn’t reading into that at all.

“I didn’t really care which number I went at,” Hanks said.

“I was just happy to be at a club, so I haven’t thought too much about that since the draft.”

With a strong culture being built at Melbourne, Hanks is enjoying every minute of her new life as an AFLW player.

“It’s been awesome, all the girls have been amazing,” she said.

“It took a while to get used to the workload and the time commitment but I’m loving it so far.”

Hanks stands at 157cm and shows a lot of skill pushing through the midfield and inside the forward 50.