TALENTED draft prospect Nakia Cockatoo is remaining upbeat, despite undergoing foot surgery that will rule him out for most of his draft year.
The Northern Territory youngster last week had a pin and hip graft inserted into his right foot to mend the stress fractures he has battled for almost a year.
It will keep him out of action for at least 12 weeks, including this year's NAB AFL Under-18 Championships, but he is hoping to return to play some games in the back end of the season.
Click here for the 2014 Under-18 Championships fixture
That, and being fit to test at October's NAB AFL Draft Combine, are now his aims for a season which has not gone to plan for the talented 17-year-old.
"I'm a bit disappointed, but I can't do anything now. The surgery's been done and I'm pretty happy about that. It's at least somewhere to start from here," Cockatoo said.
"With the surgery, hopefully everything is back on track. I'm definitely hoping to get to the Combine testing, and I'm pretty much just working my way towards that."
Cockatoo had surgery three days after arriving back in Melbourne after spending two weeks on tour in Europe with the AIS-AFL Academy, but it has been an injury which has lingered for much longer.
Before last year's under-18 carnival, Cockatoo felt some pain in his foot. He had it checked, was told to rest, and came back to feature in all five of his team's games, showing good signs with his strength, neat disposal and ability to win his own possessions.
But after the championships it continued to hurt, and after more tests, was found to have a stress fracture, which saw him put in a moon boot for eight weeks.
He spent a week training at North Melbourne in January as part of the Academy's program, and impressed, but recognised the signs when he felt pain a few weeks later.
Surgery had been discussed before, and after further consultation with doctors, it was decided he would go under the knife after the Europe trip.
"I've already been in a boot before, and I've been injured quite a few times. I've broken my ankle before and was in a cast for two-and-a-half months. I've dealt with being out of football for a fair while. I've just got to go through the process again," he said.
Cockatoo, whose father is a cousin of former Essendon and Port Adelaide forward Che Cockatoo-Collins, is not one to dwell.
Despite spending most of his time in Europe on the sidelines, running drinks or watching on, Cockatoo made sure to keep a positive outlook.
"I loved it. It was a good experience in creating some pretty strong relationships with the AIS boys, and the coaches as well," he said.
