AFTER 18 months of managing an ankle injury that continued to be a burden, Aaron vandenBerg finally feels he is back to normal.
The 24-year-old first hurt his left ankle at training in August of his debut season, in 2015.
The midfielder hopes the arthroscopic surgery he had last September to repair the lateral ligaments and to remove floating bone, will be the final solution after a lengthy period of frustration.
"The ankle feels completely different and I'm ecstatic with it at the moment," vandenBerg told AFL.com.au.
He rose to prominence after gathering 56 disposals in a game for Ainslie in the NEAFL in 2014.
The Demons drafted vandenBerg as a mature-age rookie (pick No.2 overall) and he made a key impact by playing 14 games in 2015, and was rewarded with a two-year contract extension and elevation to the club's senior list at the end of that season.
But the ankle injury was still giving him grief and it prevented him from taking the field in the Demons' last five games of that season.
The medical staff decided on a period of rest at the end of that season to allow the ankle ligaments to heal naturally.
However, when he tweaked the same ankle in an incident at training the next summer, and then did further damage, in Melbourne's second pre-season match against the Western Bulldogs at Craigieburn last February, vandenBerg knew something wasn't right.
After missing a game in the pre-season, a joint decision was made that vandenBerg could play through the duress and he did so for the first three games of 2016.
But the midfielder was unable to run freely, the range of motion in his ankle was severely hindered and he was struggling to launch himself off the ground to grab the ball in the air.
"I couldn't even do a calf raise," he said.
The Demons gave him a five-week rest period to let his inflamed ankle heal properly.
After one match back in the VFL, vandenBerg returned to the senior side and played 11 of the last 13 games for the season before going under the knife in September.
"My ankle had never really been the same (until the surgery)," a relieved vandenBerg said.
A period spent in rehab at the start of this pre-season eventually saw vandenBerg integrated into the main group and he is ready to roll in the upcoming JLT Community Series.
Having played 14 games in each of his two seasons, vandenBerg knows he must be more durable to cement his spot in the midfield/half-forward in what is now an extremely deep squad.
He is out of contract at the end of the season, but is focusing on playing consistent football before he enters into any significant negotiations with the club.
That starts with Melbourne's first-up hit-out against the Western Bulldogs at the Whitten Oval on Saturday evening.
