GEELONG cult figure Esava Ratugolea has revealed he is ahead of schedule in his recovery for a shock September return.
Ratugolea, 19, resumed full-body running on Wednesday, just 53 days after a horrific broken ankle suffered in round 10 against Carlton threatened to end his season.
After bursting on to the scene in his first eight matches this season, Ratugolea has his sights set on a comeback in time for the finals.
"(I'm) getting through it slowly but training's starting to ramp up and it's getting pretty tough now," he told AFL.com.au.
"We haven't really put a certain date or time on it, (I'm) just pretty much setting goals along the way and achieving them.
"One of my goals was to run and I've run a little bit ahead of schedule. It's looking good so far."
Sent for surgery after losing balance in the air as his right leg buckled underneath his powerful frame, Ratugolea has always held hope of featuring late in the season.
Early cross-training then led to a return to running last week on an Alter-G treadmill. Used in the early stages of rehab, the modified system straps the runner in around the waist to create a 'bubble' of air, taking a certain percentage of body weight off the legs.
After a handful of days on the treadmill, Ratugolea began running with his full body weight this week before he plans to increase the load.
"I'll run for a certain amount of time and start getting some conditioning into my legs again," he said.
"(I'll) slowly get into changing angles and hopefully I'll be able to join the boys in full training."
Ratugolea's immediate impact turned heads across the competition with his explosive pace, strength in the air and defensive pressure in the forward 50.
Coupled with his flexibility to go into the ruck, his presence has been lost since his injury.
"I know he's an important piece to the way we play," key forward partner Tom Hawkins said on the To The Final Bell podcast this week.
"He can get up around the ball, he can take pack marks and probably does the things in the forward line I don't do.
"He's probably not too dissimilar to 'Nic Nat' (West Coast's Nic Naitanui) where he doesn't need 15-20 possessions in a game, he can have a huge influence by having 5-10.
"(I'm) excited to maybe have the opportunity to play with him again (this season), hopefully it works out that way.
"Best-case scenario we've got to play finals, we've got to give him the chance to play finals."
Ratugolea's prospects will be enhanced with Geelong's VFL team set to play finals, opening the door for game time at the lower level before an AFL comeback.
He said he would reach out to fellow Fijian Naitanui in coming days to offer support on his latest ACL setback – Naitanui doing the same for Ratugolea for his broken ankle.
