RUCKMAN Max Gawn says he is on track to play in a VFL practice match on the weekend before Melbourne’s opening round of the season – his first game of any sort since playing in a Casey final in August 2011.

Gawn, who missed the entire 2012 season with a knee injury, has battled a hamstring injury since November. But the 21 year-old said he was eager to return on March 23.

“The latest is that I’ll be right in 10 or 17 days. That’s me pushing the 10 days. I get off the long-term injury list on the 22^nd and it’s now the 12^th, so there’s 10 days until that,” he told melbournefc.com.au. 

“That’s a genuine possibility, and so is the week after.”

Gawn said he was “nervous and excited” about the prospect of playing again.

“They’re probably the two things that go through [your mind] the most,” he said.

“I just hope I haven’t forgotten how to play footy.

“August 2011 was the last time I played. That’s a long time between games.”

But Gawn guaranteed a cautious approach had been taken in his recovery from both injuries.  

“I’ve been training for the past three to four weeks, and I’ve been in moderate training the six weeks before that,” he said.

“And the knee has been the best it’s felt for a while.

“I’ve got a lot of confidence in the knee now.”

Still, Gawn remained realistic about what he expects from 2013.

“It’s a tough question, because it’s like my first year now,” he said.

“I will want to play some games in the VFL and pretty early. Realistically … I want to be ready for the VFL in round one.

“I’ve got harsh goals and I want to be playing really, really good footy in the VFL early on.” 

Gawn said it was a fascinating scenario that he had yet to play a match under Mark Neeld or his midfield coach Brian Royal.

“It’s a weird situation, because Neeldy has been here since September 2011 - I haven’t played a game since August 2011 and he hasn’t seen me play, and he’s rarely seen me train,” he said.

“So he’s really keen on getting me out there. He’s seen a fair bit of ‘Gawn in 60 seconds’ but that’s about as far as he knows me.

“I’m looking forward to going through a mids coaches’ review with Choco (Royal). So after my first practice match, I’ll be knocking on the door trying to do my review and being a pest, because I haven’t for 16 months.”

The likeable tall said his entertaining personality has allowed him to remain in good spirits throughout his frustrating run with injury.

“It’s just one of the things I’ve got to do,” he said.

“It’s kept me sane and it’s kept me happy and it’s made me want to be at the club longer, so I’m always doing more – extra swims for example.

“I’ve spent as much time as I can at the club - I’m a bit of an upbeat character anyway and I just really enjoy being at the club.”