Otten established himself as an important player in the Crows defence in '09, playing 24 games and finishing runner-up to Brisbane Lions midfielder Daniel Rich in the NAB Rising Star.
The 21-year-old was preparing for a move into the midfield when he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in a pre-season training drill in December of that year.
He opted to have a traditional knee reconstruction and spent the entire 2010 season rehabilitating the injury.
Otten starred in his comeback games against Melbourne and Port Adelaide in the opening round of the NAB Cup, but was less influential in the remainder of the pre-season competition.
Otten played his long-awaited 27th AFL game against Hawthorn in the Crows' season-opener and impressed in a variety of roles, finishing with 18 possessions.
"It was just great to be part of the team again. Just the feeling running out onto the ground and after the game I was buzzing all night with adrenalin," Otten said.
"My form was a bit indifferent over the pre-season. I was happy with a few games, but I was still getting back into the routine and pulled up really sore after a few games, as I expected.
"I was pretty happy with my form in round one. It wasn't outstanding, but it was a good game to get under my belt and I know I'm going to build on that and get better as the year goes on."
The revolutionary LARS (Ligament Augmentation and Reconstruction System) procedure, which cuts the recovery time from an ACL injury from 12 months to three months, has changed the landscape of knee reconstructions.
The LARS procedure allowed Sydney Swans defender Nick Malceski and Port Adelaide star David Rodan to regain peak form almost immediately upon their returns to the AFL.
However, Otten denied players that had traditional reconstructions were under more pressure to perform in the early stages of their comebacks because of LARS.
"Every player is going to be different. David's the kind of player that can step straight back in no matter what, obviously," he said.
"I was able to come back and do a full pre-season and I think that helped me a lot. I could've seen myself struggling this season if I didn't have that pre-season under my belt."
In spite of his patchy pre-season form, Otten resisted the temptation to return to a defensive post and stuck to his ambition of becoming a midfielder.
"I always knew I could go and play down back if I had to, but I really wanted to give the midfield a crack because that's what I had set myself for throughout the pre-season," he said.
"In saying that, with the sub rule you're going to have to play in almost two positions, so I'm sure I'll spend some time down back too."
The mature Victorian is in his fourth year at West Lakes, but has played only one full season of AFL and often has to remind his teammates of his inexperience in the game.
"When we get thrown into groups sometimes I'm the oldest and I have to say, 'guys, I'm 21 and I'm only in my second year. We need an older guy in our group'," he said.
"The guys say, 'oh, yeah. Oh well, you'll be right', so I definitely get feeling that people think I'm more experienced than I am.
"I guess that's because I got a good perspective on things by having a good year [in 2009], but that's gone now and I need to build on this year now and make it my year."
Katrina Gill covers Adelaide news for afl.com.au. Follow her on Twitter: @AFL_KatrinaGill
