CAPTAIN Nathan Jones says he’s certain he’ll play in Melbourne’s opening round next season, despite undergoing neck surgery on Monday.

Jones, who had disc replacement surgery between his C5-C6, was adamant he would be right to play in the club’s first home and away match in 2016.

“One hundred per cent I’ll be right for round one,” he told Dee TV.

“I’ll probably spend two or three months of rehabbing and there will be a fair bit of tedious stuff in terms of strengthening my neck.

“After that, it’ll be controlling the contacting in training for two or three months … and I have to be pretty cautious. All going well, I’ll be right [to play] two or three weeks before round one next year.”

Although the three-time Melbourne best and fairest winner was confident of playing in round one next year for the Dees, he couldn’t guarantee he’d be at his absolute peak.

“That’s not to say I won’t be 100 per cent, but I’ll just be building back,” he said.

“From the start of December, I’ll be in the start of full training. By speaking to the surgeons, at this stage, I should be able to get back [and play] at least one or two of the NAB Challenge games and be right for round one.”

Jones, who had another fine season and finished fifth in Melbourne’s best and fairest award, acknowledged his injury impacted him at times in 2015.

“I don’t want to make an excuse, but the only game I really regret playing is the GWS game in round two. I definitely wasn’t 100 per cent that day and from there I started to manage my neck a bit,” he said.

“It definitely limited me … in the first six or seven weeks, I wasn’t 100 per cent. Beyond that, I got back to a level where I could trust my body and I put my hand up to play.

“At times, it definitely played on me and affected me subconsciously, but in the end, it’s definitely not to blame for the inconsistency – it’s just something I had to deal with.

“A lot of guys deal with injury throughout the whole season, so it’s something I have to manage. I’ll get on top of that this pre-season and be back better than ever next year.”

Jones’ injury happened in the lead-up to Melbourne’s season-opener against Gold Coast Suns at the MCG, which the Dees won by 26 points. For the record, Jones was still among Melbourne’s best with 25 disposals and a goal. 

“It probably started a week before round one. I was doing some gardening and went surfing a few times … and stirred up my neck a little bit and came into training that week and was a bit stiff,” he said.

“Post that, I had some pretty significant pain and it turned out that I had a disc bulge and it was pushing on a nerve root. From there, it didn’t really improve too much and I had a few injections.

“The doctors’ reports and their assumptions was that I had [injured] it previously, but the things I did in the weekend before the season [started] aggravated it and inflamed the area – that’s why I got the real bad nerve pain.”

Jones said he needed “four or five” cortisone injections to get through the season.

But when he was still experiencing pain at the midway stage of the season, he sought further help. 

“I still had some chronic symptoms and a bit of weakness in my arm. [I had] this dull pain that was permanently there, depending on what position I was sitting in or laying in,” he said.

“From there, I had a few specialists and surgeons look at it and the best way to attack it – due to time constraints and wanting it to be right for round one next year – was to get surgery.

“We’ve done a fair bit of homework on it. The doctors and physios have looked into other sportsmen that have had similar injuries and similar surgeries – there are a few guys at Melbourne Storm. They have rehabbed back and been able to play for four or five more seasons, without any issues.”

Given Jones has missed just five matches since he made his AFL debut in round 17, 2006 – and his durability has been a feature of his career – his injury is somewhat new territory.

“It is something that I’ve never had to experience before and I’d never had surgery either,” he said.

“It’s been pretty daunting for me. There have been times where I’ve said ‘let’s do it’ and other [times] where I’ve told the docs ‘no, I’m not going to do it, I’ll just persist’.

“Had I just been a normal dude outside [of football], they could’ve said ‘just rest up – it may not improve, but it won’t get any worse’. [Due to] the rigours of being an athlete … it seemed best to get it done and that was the decision made.”

Jones said he would approach his rehab in the same manner teammates Jack Trengove (foot) and Christian Petracca (knee) did with their season-ending injuries this year.

“I’m really confident I’ll commit to my rehab and recovery, and that’ll be an interesting time for me,” he said.

“I only have to look at guys like Jack Trengove and Christian Petracca for example who have spent 12 months or beyond  in rehab and they’re fighting their way back. I’ve only got to do it for three or four months and then be back in full training, so I should be right.

“Having spoken to the surgeon, [we’re confident] we’ll get a really good result out of it and make a full recovery, and in the end [we] won’t even know that it’s happened.”