Clark, who topped Melbourne’s goalkicking with 29 goals this year from 11 matches in a fine first season, said he would spend much of September and October “hanging around the footy club” to ensure he had the best chance of success for the 2013 season.
“My main focus is getting this foot right, and making sure I get most of the pre-season in,” he told melbournefc.com.au.
“I’ll sit down with the guys and work out a plan and keep ticking off the days and the weeks - hopefully mid to late November, I’ll be starting to run again hopefully.
“Hopefully - fingers crossed, it’ll be smooth sailing from there.” ‘
After such a promising start with Melbourne, Clark missed one match early in the season after a heavy landing from a marking contest, before his foot injury sidelined him for the second half of 2012.
The 24 year-old missed round five against St Kilda due to concussion, after landing awkwardly on his head and neck region. The incident looked nasty on replay and could’ve been a lot worse - something Clark acknowledged.
“It was just one of those things - a freak accident on the footy field,” he said.
“Hopefully, I can land on my feet from now on. Looking back on the footage, it doesn’t look great. I was probably pretty lucky to walk away from that one.
“I was just keen to play the week after and the doc [Dan Bates] and Neeldy were really cautious with me. They showed a lot of care and that’s great as a player, knowing that the club actually cares about you.
“I tried to run around on the Friday [before the match against St Kilda] and they just pretty much laughed at me. I had the week off, and then I felt fresh again and I was able to go again.”
Clark conceded he felt the concussion for a handful of days.
“I failed the concussion test that week and had a few headaches here and there, and I struggled to sleep the first couple of nights,” he said.
“Other than that, once the first few days were out of the way, I felt fine and ready to play footy again.”
But, reflecting on the foot injury, which occurred when he came down from an attempted mark and landed on Greater Western Sydney co-captain Phil Davis’ boot, Clark said the Melbourne medicos were initially worried about his head, after he received a knock to it during the contest.
“The ligament snapped and I copped the head knock straight after that and they (the doctors) were a bit worried about that, because of my previous knock against the Bulldogs [in round four],” he said.
“But I was telling the doc ‘it’s my foot, it’s my foot’, so I got down in the rooms and I was trying to convince doc to give me a bit of a painkiller and hopefully play in another win with the boys. I just wanted to sing the song and finish off the game with another win.
“But again, they showed that care for me and subbed me out. The next day was pretty much a day full of scans, and unfortunately the doc told me that afternoon that I’d torn the Lisfranc ligament and that I’d probably require surgery.”
Clark said that the process to correct his foot happened quickly, and soon it was all about rehabilitation.
“I met with [surgeon] Mark Blackney later that afternoon or the next morning and that was it - season over. I was booked in for surgery on the Wednesday and ended up going in for a procedure and spent the day in hospital and got out the next day,” he said.
“I had three staples inserted in and I was bed ridden for five or six weeks and that was the toughest thing, just laying in bed and feeling guilty that I wasn’t out there with the boys - helping them out.
“I was not feeling like a footballer, and I was just playing PlayStation and watching movies to get through, [but] now I’m up and about. I spent nine weeks on crutches, and thankfully I’m off them now and walking around and starting to get out of the moon boot and back into the joggers.
“Mark was really happy with how the surgery went, and I’m just really excited to get back training and getting ready for next year now.”
Having had several long term injuries during his days at Brisbane Lions, Clark said he had prepared himself for the recovery period.
“Unfortunately, I’ve had a few of these things in the past. I’ve had osteitis pubis and a few injuries, so I’ve been through it before and it makes it a little bit easier to get my head around that I won’t be playing for the rest of the year, and I’ll be in the rehab group for a while yet,” he said.
“I’m just happy to have little wins at the moment. When I got off the crutches, that was a win, and when I was walking around in joggers the other day, that was a win, so I’m taking every little positive out of it, at the moment.
“A little bit of negativity pops in there - if I’m going to be able to get back and get back to some good form. I don’t want to let anyone down. I can’t focus on that, and I’ve just got to focus on those little wins that I’m having at the moment and progress and let it happen. So I’ll have a little smile about those every day, and then keep training hard and get ready for next year.”
But Clark said being on the sidelines had helped him overcome some niggling injuries.
“It gives me a chance to work on other things that have been going on with my body through the season. It gives me a chance to rebuild myself a little bit,” he said.
“I’ve got a couple of training partners, so I’ve become pretty close with those guys, so I’ve really enjoyed that part of it as well.”
Clark said he was excited by the prospect of returning and helping the Demons start their climb up the ladder for 2013.
“As much as the wins haven’t been there, internally we know where we’re heading and we’ve seen little victories within the group. So the guys are going to be better off with another pre-season under their belt under Dave Misson’s program,” he said.
“Hopefully, we can come back for the pre-season and make some good improvements over the summer, and I’m just really excited to be a part of that with the boys and drive the standards.
“I just want to get through until Christmas and then build from there, getting ready for the games, so I’m just really excited to be a part of it again, once I get over this foot - that’s my main focus at the moment, just getting myself right.”
