DEAN Kent says that he is confident he will be fit to play in round one after injury sidelined the majority of his 2015 season.

Kent, who injured his hamstring in round four against Richmond, missed 11 games before making his return in the AFL Victoria Development League where he tore hamstring again, knocking him out for a further four weeks.

Speaking to Dee TV, Kent said that after a solid start to the season, it was a long road to recovery.

“I was really looking forward to starting off well, which I thought I did in the first four weeks. I played some consistent footy and thought I was building [form],” he said.

“Then I snapped the biceps tendon in my hamstring. It (the injury) used to be called ‘off-the-bone’ but mine was midway so the surgeon said it was the first operation he’s had to do where it was in the belly of the hamstring.

“We couldn’t really attack rehab like some of the other guys have, like Nick Dal Santo who tore his off the bone, as I tore mine off the belly so it was a real hard one.”

Kent said that while he had to “respect” the injury and let it heal, he was impatient to get back on the field after an extended period on the sidelines.  

“I knew within myself that I would get up and play; after 11 weeks of missing out, I just wanted to go back and play footy,” he said.

“I didn’t want to do another training session on a Saturday [instead of playing a match] so I said to the fitness guys, ‘can I play in the development league and take that as a training session instead of coming back myself and running laps of the oval which I’ve been doing for 11 weeks?’

“They were all for that and everything was ticked off so I played that game. Looking back now and talking to the physio guys, maybe we did come back a week or two early because I wanted to play but stuff happens. Whether I’d trained for another two weeks and it (the injury) would have happened again, no one knows.”

Kent said that reinjuring his hamstring in the Development League was a “frustrating” experience, leading to another four weeks off.

“That was my first major injury that I’ve had in my career so it was definitely hard and took it’s time when I redid it,” he said.

“My head wasn’t in the right spot after I redid it the second time, so I got the OK to go and see friends and family back home [in Western Australia] which really helped me. The club was really understanding about that which was good.”

Kent said that this time away allowed him to come back with a “fresh mindset” and close out his season with the Casey Scorpions, where he played finals.

“I was talking to Mum and Dad and I don’t think I’ve played finals since I was 15 years old so that was good,” he said.

“Obviously we didn’t win that day but it was good for the club and good for myself to get back and play some footy at the back end of the season.