ANGUS Brayshaw says St Kilda great Nathan Burke has been a sounding board for him as he builds towards a comeback from his latest concussion setback.

Burke, who played 323 games (the second most in St Kilda’s history), captained the club and won three best and fairest awards with the Saints, suffered several knocks in career, particularly early on.

Brayshaw said it had been good to talk to Burke about what he went through with concussion and how he dealt with it. 

“I caught up with Nathan Burke on Tuesday morning for the second or third time – the 300-gamer for St Kilda. He had concussion problems and wore a helmet after his first two seasons and for the rest of his career. I’ve been speaking to him a bit about what he went through, and he was a bit of a sounding board, so he’s been really great,” he told melbournefc.com.au.

“Inside the club, Dr Zee [Arian], Dave Williams, the club psychologist and Macca (Brendan McCartney) have been looking after me. Those three guys, inside the club, have been mapping out my recovery. It’s really specific and been tailored to meet my needs, which I’ve been really appreciative of.

“They’ve been great for me inside the club, but Burkey has been through what I’ve been through and went onto play 300 games. So, if I get through this in one piece, and come out the other end playing 300 games, it would be all right.”

Brayshaw said it had helped considerably to have a someone who had experienced several knocks, who was outside the club.

“Burkey’s a superstar of the game – 300 games is a huge effort,” he said.

“He’s removed a bit from everything, so he’s got his own opinions and he’s offered a few contrasting views to some other stuff I’ve heard from different people.

“It’s refreshing to get an opinion from a guy like him. Obviously, I’m listening to my doctors, but it’s just good to hear something different, and he’s been through everything I’ve been through so it’s nice to hear from him.”

General manager of football operations Josh Mahoney said the club wouldn’t rush Brayshaw’s return to the game, but it remained optimistic about his progress. 

“Angus will be in full training early next week. All things going well, he’ll need a couple of weeks of full training and then hopefully he’ll be available to play – all things going well in that time,” he said.

Brayshaw said he was progressing “slowly but surely, but tracking upwards” after being sidelined for the past six weeks. The talented and likeable youngster said it had been a steady recover and was optimistic about returning soon.  

“Hopefully there’s not too much left of it, but I’m going along quite nicely at the moment,” he said.

“The next step for me is to join full training with the team – that will happen sometime next week, and then it’s two to three weeks of training with the group.

“If all of that goes smoothly, then I’ll think about playing, but it’s hard to put specific numbers on everything and give an estimate of how far away I am.”

After an outstanding debut season in 2015, Brayshaw battled a knee injury early in 2016 and then concussion in the first half of the season.

He returned to play the final seven games of last year, but has since played just the opening two rounds this season.

Concussion has sidelined him since round six, with one appearance happening in the VFL in mid-May.

Brayshaw conceded it had been frustrating, but he said there was light at the end of the tunnel, given the team’s recent performances. 

“I’d much rather be playing, but it’s been really good to watch the team play so well. We’re on track to play some really good footy towards the end of the year and I want to be a part of that. I just want to get back and get involved and play some footy before the year is out, and who knows what will happen after that,” he said.

“We’ve had four wins in a row and the team seems to get better and better every week. I’m part of the journey – I’m just not playing at the moment – but I’ve seen all the work they’ve done. It’s so good to see it starting to pay off.

“I was there all through the pre-season, putting in the hard work during the sessions, battling away, I want to have part of the success I know that the group will have. It’s good to watch and I can’t wait to be out there.”