BROWNLOW medallist Simon Black believes his recent brush with osteitis pubis acted as a wake-up call after he became complacent with managing the complaint that has plagued him since last year.
Black, 29, suffered the groin problem in the second half of last year, and underwent tendon release surgery at the end of the season to alleviate the problem.
But a couple of weeks ago he became aware that the troublesome injury had returned ahead of the Lions' round seven clash with Geelong.
Black said neglecting recovery aspects designed for osteitis pubis sufferers in the opening two months of the home-and-away season had been the cause.
"Late in the Melbourne game, I started getting sore again and then leading into the Geelong game, late in the week, it wouldn't settle down and I was really sore," Black said after the Lions' 33-point win over Carlton on Saturday night.
"It's amazing what a couple of weeks does. I had the two weeks' rest and went back into management; just little things like coming off the ground and getting the physios to free your groins out.
"That's important, and I probably wasn't doing that enough earlier in the year."
The feeling the debilitating complaint was again sneaking into his body was enough for Black to regain respect for the core strengthening exercises recommended for players with the problem.
"It's amazing. They talk about pilates and things the guys who have had the operation do on the way back, and it's so true," he said.
"To strengthen those pelvic floor muscles and transverses, it's so important to be diligent with your rehab."
Black said he was feeling good after his 28-disposal, two-goal performance against the Blues, after deciding two weeks off were sufficient in getting on top of the problem once again.
"I've pulled up fine, I feel really good actually," he said.
"I made the call that I'd play on Thursday, and it settled down and the groin felt fine, so it was good."
The Lions racked up their fourth win for the season on Saturday evening at Telstra Dome, which gives them momentum heading into a triple-hit of Gabba matches against St Kilda, North Melbourne and Fremantle.
Black said the side now had the chance to get on a winning run and build a solid base to launch an assault on the finals in the second half of the season.
"We really think we've got the squad now to make the eight and we will be very disappointed if we didn't," he said.
"It would be another wasted year for us if we didn't. So we've got to push forward and try and get our wins ahead of our losses, and it's a big three or four weeks coming up."
