While his team mates have at least another11 games to complete 2007, Nick Stevens' 2008 pre-season is now officiallyunderway. In his third diary entry exclusive to carltonfc.com.au, Stevensexplains that his recovery from last month's spinal surgery is right on trackand he tells of the inspirational example set by Adam Ramanauskas and TomLonergan.

WELL, as I write, I've just taken anotherimportant step in my comeback - a run with the boys. OK, it's the sort of thingI've done hundreds of times before, but this one was special. It was slow andeasy, but special - my first activity back with the main group since mysurgery. I just tagged along with Fev at the back of the bunch while the restof the group charged ahead in a time trial around Princes Park.I actually did some gentle strides on Monday on the oval but this was my firstteam exercise.

I'm only able to run on grass for now - allmy exercise needs to be low impact - but I pulled up fine after Monday and feelgreat after today's run. Before this week my only exercise had been some powerwalking in the streets around home. I know that sounds a bit daggy and it's thesort of activity you associate with more senior citizens, but for me it's beenthe perfect way to ease back into it so I don’t get too sore when the temposteps up.

The build-up will be gradual from now on.I'll have three runs this week, just gentle, and I expect to take that up tofour times next week so that, hopefully, in three weeks' time I'll be able togo fairly hard once again in full-on running drills. That's the plan, and we'llthrow in some cross-training as well, some work on the bike and light weights -but no swimming because of the neck movement.

I'm not looking on the work I'm doing nowas my rehab. In my mind it's the start of my 2008 pre-season, an extendedpre-season leading to a clear goal and that's a return to action next year. Icame into this year the fittest I've ever been and my aim is to improve on thatfor next season to be in the best shape ever.

Everything has to be low impact for nowbecause the bone in my neck needs time to knit together. The specialist wasconcerned that I may feel some pain or discomfort but, touch wood, I haven’tfelt anything. And the news I received last Friday at my most recent check-upwas positive. The surgeon said the x-rays were excellent and he's really happywith the way it’s going. There's no pain, no pins and needles which I hadbefore, no stiffness or soreness and I have a full range of movement. I've hadjust the one night when I haven’t slept in the entire time since the procedure,and I reckon that's remarkable considering what I had done.

While the bone is knitting well, they can'tproperly assess the scans for another three months. It’s going to take thatlong for the bone to fuse fully but the way it's going now, it couldn’t bebetter. I've got another visit with the specialist on Friday just to monitorhow I'm coping with the running and I'll probably have another one in a coupleof weeks down the track to monitor things as my program steps up.

Right now though, I'm exactly where I'msupposed to be on the timetable we set down at the start, so I couldn’t behappier.

One thing that we have had to hold back onis my role in the coaches' box on match days. We'd pencilled-in the Bulldogsgame for my first match-day role, but the doctors were concerned that I mightbecome a little over-excited so they advised me to ease back for a couple ofweeks and not to get too involved. But I'll be travelling to Perth with the boys for the game against Freoon Saturday week and that will be my initiation into the world of coaching.I'll be working with the midfield and giving them feedback on their work andmatch-ups.

On the field, it was great for the club tohave those couple of wins against the Bulldogs and Port and for the boys it wasreward for hard work, but last week they got a reality check against the Hawkswhich won’t hurt them. We didn't have a great night and they had a super night.I'm sure our boys will learn from that and you'll see a very competitive sidetake the field against Fremantle.

Despite last Friday, I think the boys havecome a long way. We've still got a lot of work ahead of us to be a competitivetop eight side but that's what we’re all working on. Probably the standout forus in the midfield over the past few weeks has been Andy Carrazzo - he's alwaysout there doing the extras on the track and working on his game and it's greatto see him enjoying the success that he has. I'm sure he can keep going and getbetter every week. He's a pretty quiet guy by nature but his confidence isgrowing and he's becoming a really good leader out on the ground.

Not only is he winning more of the ball buthe's using it better than ever and hitting his targets and starting to hurtsides and a lot of that comes down to confidence. He's always been disciplined andhard-working and aimed to improve his deficiencies. Nothing's changed in hisattitude and the way he approaches his work. The big change for Andy has beenhis confidence and self-belief. He now knows that he can mix it at the toplevel.

Jordan Russell is another who's caught myeye over the past few weeks. He's a good kid who showed a lot of positive signsover the pre-season and in the early rounds before a little bit of a downperiod. It was great to see him come back strongly against Port Adelaide, theteam that tried to lure him home last summer. He's another who trains hard andnever shirks the extras.

With a bit of spare time on my hands I'vethrown myself into my landscaping business. It's great therapy. We'reexcavating a backyard and yesterday I spent the day on the roller. I can't doany digging or any of the heavy work but I can still operate the machines. It'sa great release and I've got some great boys who work for me.

Reminders pop up every day about what ittakes to overcome serious setbacks and there's been two for all of us toreflect upon in the past week or so - Adam Ramanauskas and Tom Lonergan. Ramais in a league of his own in terms of his experiences. It's hard to imaginegoing through what he's been through with cancer over four years and bouncingback again and again. What a super effort. To get his body right to the pointwhere he's one step away from a return to the AFL is just remarkable. Havingplayed against Rama since our junior days I know what sort of bloke he is andit's been a sensational effort.

And I haven’t met Tom Lonergan, but to watchhis return after losing a kidney in circumstances that were genuinelylife-threatening … I'm nowhere near that, but there are positives for me and allof us in both their examples.

Lots of people ask me if I'm nervous aboutcoming back to play and how the injury will affect me and these are questionsthat Adam and Tom will have fielded hundreds of times. When you play footy,it’s something that you love and you don't think about it - you just go for theball. It's an instinct thing that you're brought up with. I won't be holdingback.