AT HIS lowest point after breaking his leg in 2009, the thought crossed Sam Blease's mind that he may never get to have the AFL career he always dreamed about.

Blease had injured himself while having a kick of the footy with school mates at Yarra Valley Grammar School and missed more than a year of football.

While he had already been drafted by the Demons the year before, Blease had to wait until round 15 this season to finally make the debut he feared might never happen.

He credits a significant part of his recovery to a psychologist he sought away from the club.

"I felt like I was mentally a little bit unstable if you like. I was a bit unsure if I'd get back to playing footy again and I suppose there was a bit of time when I didn't think I'd get to play at AFL level," Blease said.

"A lady outside of the club helped me find a few areas to focus on and I gained a lot of confidence from speaking to someone outside of footy."

After sustaining the initial injury so innocuously, Blease feared that any physical contest could result in a similar setback.

"When I was first coming back I was almost a bit hesitant going in to contests because you don't want to injure yourself like that again," he said.

"I was never going to get anywhere if I was double-guessing myself so I took it upon myself and thought I need to see someone because I can't keep playing like this, I'm not going to get anywhere."

Blease says his leg is back to 100 per cent strength now even though he still ices it after matches as a precaution.

His new-found confidence in his body and his football ability has seen him earn the NAB AFL Rising Star nomination for his 28-disposal effort against Gold Coast on Sunday.

While Blease's self-belief is no longer in doubt, he still needed to earn the faith of the Melbourne match committee. Fortunately he has a fan in caretaker coach Todd Viney who has played him in the past three games.

And the respect is more than mutual, according to Blease.

"It's been a tough transition leaving 'Bails'. The boys really enjoyed having Bails as coach but Toddy's really stood up and taken the reins," he said.

"I've learned a lot off him and I don't see why he couldn't become a senior coach at some point if he had the ambition to do so."