IT'S TAKEN two frustrating years, but Port Adelaide forward Robbie Gray believes he's starting to shake the injury curse that has clouded an otherwise promising start to his AFL career.
Gray, 21, managed just 15 games in two years after being selected by the Power at No. 55 in the 2006 NAB AFL Draft.
But on Sunday he will double that games tally when he makes his 15th appearance for the club this season.
"It’s been a good year so far personally. I’ve been able to string a few games together and the body has been fairly sound," Gray told portadelaidefc.com.au.
"I work pretty closely with the physios and the medical staff at the club. They’re pretty good with me during the week in helping me with what I need to do to get through and play on the weekends."
Last month, coach Mark Williams praised Gray’s improved ability to recover from week to week and said his perceived injury-prone body was a result of not having had a traditional football background.
"When Choco said that, he probably meant that I’m soft," Gray said.
"I played basketball growing up and he thinks all basketballers are soft."
On top of following the club’s standard rehabilitation program, Gray spends additional time in the Alberton ice baths and with the club physiotherapists.
The skilful small forward says he’s put the soft tissue injuries that plagued his first season behind him and is now learning to deal with the knocks associated with spending more time in the midfield.
"Playing in the midfield and around the stoppages a bit more is a bit more physical, so I’m getting used to that and getting used to pulling up sore from games," he said.
"In my first year, the medical staff at the club told me that I’d learn what [soreness] I can train and play with as I go on. It’s just about getting a good understanding of your body and that’s what I’m doing now."
Gray’s clean hands and ability to cut through midfield traffic have made him a handy clearance player this year, especially with injuries to key onballers Shaun Burgoyne, Chad Cornes and Travis Boak.
Despite spending less time as a forward, Gray sits fourth in the Power’s goalkicking this season with 17 and is also ranked equal second in the league in total goal assists (14), behind Collingwood’s Dane Swan and Western Bulldogs captain Brad Johnson.
To supporters he's become all the more recognisable because of the unmistakable mouthguard seen twirling between his teeth.
Gray said the habit had spawned from a bad experience in his junior playing days.
"I’ve never been a big fan of wearing a mouthguard, but I took it out one day in under-18s and didn’t have a kick to quarter time, so I ran back into the rooms and got it," Gray said.
"I chew on it and it doesn’t really fit a couple of weeks after I get it, so then I get a new one and a few weeks later that one doesn’t fit either. It’s a bad habit and everyone always asks me about it."
Gray, who lives with teammate Mitch Farmer, recently bought a house in Adelaide’s western suburbs and has no intentions of moving back to Melbourne.
"I love it here in Adelaide. It’s a bit different living out of home," he said.
"I was with a host family for the first couple of years, so it’s been good to get out and experience life by myself."
