IT hasn't been an easy road for young Saint Jayden Attard.

He was drafted then delisted by the Brisbane Lions after just five games over two seasons, rookie-listed by St Kilda, played 20 games last year, was expected to be upgraded to the senior list – then was forced to undergo a knee reconstruction after suffering the injury in round 21 last year.

Attard said he was down at the time, but support from the club and teammates helped him get through it.

"When it initially happened I was pretty devastated," he sold saints.com.au. "I thought I was going to be on the senior list this year, but it wasn't to be.

"I had heaps of the boys come and visit me when I had my operation, and had plenty of support from my family and friends.

"It was definitely a tough situation for me – I didn't know where I stood and what was going to happen, but as soon as the club said they were going to do everything they could to help me get back on my feet and give me another opportunity, I was rapt.

"They could have quite easily said; 'Sorry, you've done your knee and we need a fully-strong list', but the club believed in me which I really value."

The 22-year-old is hoping to play at least a couple of VFL games this year. His knee played up again last week, but again, support has been in abundance.

"I'm travelling really well, just chipping away at it. Last week it blew up after not handling some contested training too well, so I've had this week off while we get the fluid out of my knee.

"When it happened I was pretty down and frustrated, but I was told by the physios that it was a normal thing.

"Lenny Hayes found out about it, and he was saying to me that when he was trying to come back his knee was always blowing up, so it was more comforting to hear that it was a normal occurrence, and it wasn't a down thing, it was just a normal thing that I had to go through."

As is often the case with major injuries, life lessons resulted.

"I found that I needed to have something away from football, so I'm doing a personal training course," he said.

"I'm doing that today, and I'm almost finished, almost fully qualified. It's great, it just keeps me ticking over. I've also bought a bit of land, just to get the other side of my life going.

"It didn't make it seem so bad when I have a bit of balance in my life."