COLLINGWOOD ruckman Darren Jolly has a message for those who say his decorated career is nearing its end: it's not.

The dual premiership player endured a difficult 2011, missing 10 weeks with a knee injury through the middle of the season.

He returned in plenty of time for the Magpies' run to September, but battled a leg concern during the finals that severely restricted his input in both the narrow preliminary final win over Hawthorn and the Grand Final loss to Geelong.

But the 30-year-old says he was surprised to have been written off in some circles.

"That sort of shocked me, how I read that," Jolly told collingwoodfc.com.au from the Magpies' high altitude training camp in Arizona.

"Clearly they (the people saying I'm finished) don't know.

"I've still got two years contracted, and hopefully my body holds up, and 'Bucks' (new coach Nathan Buckley) still likes me, and we'll try and squeeze another couple out of that.

"We'll wait and see."

After a relatively injury-free career, the former Sydney Swan and Demon admitted he found it harder than he expected to regain touch when he returned from the knee injury.

"I sort of expected that my form would pick up where it left off, and clearly it didn't," Jolly said.

"Literally, you're throwing away all of pre-season.
   
"To not do anything for a while and then to try to get back to full fitness is pretty hard.

"Not only that, my leg strength sort of suffered a bit because I couldn't focus on getting that back up to speed.

"So it was all a bit of a mess last year.

"Touch-wood nothing happens this year and we're right to go."