IT’S ALMOST a year since Jayden Hunt played a game of football.

It’s a statistic that may have caught many by surprise, but the second-year Demon has not played a match since May 18 last year, when he played in Casey’s loss to Coburg in the VFL.

Since then, the 20-year-old, who was selected at No.57 in the 2013 NAB AFL Draft, has been out with a back injury, which flared up in the pre-season.

He then missed the NAB Challenge/VFL practice match series and will now return via the AFL Victoria Development League this Saturday, where he will line up for Casey against Sandringham at Casey Fields.

For Hunt, it’s been a long road back.

“It was round seven in the VFL last year when I last played. By the time this week comes around, it’s round four in the VFL, so it’s been quite a while,” he told melbournefc.com.au.

“It happened when I felt a back spasm in that game during the second half and then I had scans. It showed a little crack in the back and that was my season gone.

“But I got through most of the pre-season and after three months of high running loads, it responded pretty well, but unfortunately it flared up a bit on our pre-season camp at Maroochydore.”

Hunt said a trip to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra then helped with his rehab.

“It had been up and down a bit, so then I went up the AIS and saw a specialist and he gave me some good exercises to do,” he said.

“He doesn’t think it’ll be a long term thing, so hopefully I’ll be out there this weekend with no problems at all. It’s more of a stress injury, which has come about through a changing body.

“It can be common in young kids who are growing a lot and putting on size, so hopefully once my body fully develops, which it almost is, then it shouldn’t be a worry.”

Hunt said he was confident his body was now ready to be tested in match conditions.  

“The body’s been holding up really well of late. The plan is to play about a half or maybe a bit more in the Development League,” he said.

“Hopefully I can progress to 80 per cent [game time] and then I’ll playing full games in two weeks.

“I feel really confident in my body. I’ve done as much as I can and everything seems to be fine, so I’m feeling confident.”