NATHAN Grima's assessment of his 2011 season is almost brutal.

AFL.com.au spoke with Grima this week as North Melbourne's high-altitude training camp in Utah neared its end. At one stage, we asked him about his litany of injuries this year when, without prompting, he offered the following observation: "If I serve up another year like that I don't think I'll be coming to many more camps in Utah."

Later, he added: "I took a big step back last season in my footy."

At first glance, Grima's self-assessment, though harsh, is not baseless.

After emerging as North's best key defender in just his second AFL season, Grima was a pale imitation of his 2010 self this year. Where he had previously thrived in one-on-one contests, he struggled. Where he had previously been a counter-attacking weapon for North, he started to turn the ball over with sloppy disposal.

But there were significant mitigating circumstances for Grima's form slide, chiefly his horrendous run with injury that started at last year's Utah camp.

After a seven-hour hike on the second day of that camp, Grima suffered back spasms and a bulging spinal disc. His attempts to train for the rest of the camp were futile and when the injury subsequently led to severe nerve-related pain in his legs he was forced to have surgery in January this year to remove a floating piece of disc.

Remarkably, Grima returned just 12 weeks later to play in North's round two game against Collingwood. But after playing six consecutive games, he spent another month on the sidelines after breaking a finger against Melbourne in round eight and undergoing further surgery.

Grima was again rushed straight back into North's team for its round 13 clash against Essendon, but, despite being one of the Kangaroos' best endurance runners, his lack of match practice was clearly affecting his ability to run out games. Against the Bombers, at times when he was rotated off the ground, he could be seen hunched over, gasping for air. Not merely short of breath, he seemed closer to genuine distress. 

Grima has to be prompted to address such "excuses". But he concedes he would not return so quickly from his back surgery if he had his time over again. And that missing so much of North's pre-season training and rounds nine to 12 had affected his fitness and, ultimately, his confidence.

"If you miss a large chunk of pre-season, no matter how you prepare as an athlete or how good a player you are, you are going to struggle," Grima says.

"I'm one of those guys who needs a lot of work to get fit and stay fit. And I need to be on top of my game to compete well at this level.

"I just came back a bit early and then with the finger, it just all compounded and I lost a lot of confidence as well."

Grima says his confidence sunk so low last season that by the time he was dropped to the VFL after North's round 15 loss to St Kilda he was relieved.

"I was really not enjoying my footy and not contributing enough to warrant getting a senior game," he says.

"Up until this year I almost laughed when I heard someone talk about being a confidence player - I didn't think there was such a thing. 

"But last year was the first time that I'd been really down on confidence and you go from being keen to get to games and everything being about footy, to starting to second guess yourself and make excuses with injuries and other things."

Even when he returned to play North's final three games of 2011, Grima was keen for the year to end so he could focus on redeeming himself in 2012.

North's Utah camp has been the first step in that campaign and, unlike last year, Grima says it could scarcely have gone better.

With his back now close to 100 per cent, Grima has completed every training session in Utah, but, understandably, the club has limited his hiking.

Although many players seem to regard pre-season training as a necessary evil, Grima says he enjoys this time of the year, knowing he can focus on preparing himself for the coming season without the weekly pressure of games. 

Not that Grima isn't looking forward to round one, 2012. He has yet to play in a round one AFL game and hopes to change that this year.

But, mostly, he is after redemption. Grima says teammates such as Hamish McIntosh and Levi Greenwood whose 2011 seasons were also injury-ravaged feel the same way.

"We're all just keen to redeem ourselves and have a big season," he says.

"The fire's in the belly and I'm just hoping I can get through all the (pre-season) sessions and put in a better show than last year - that's for sure."