WITH his rehabilitation from a knee reconstruction behind him, Adelaide draftee Jake Lever is into full training and dreaming of a round one debut.
Lever was selected by the Crows with their first pick of the 2014 NAB AFL Draft – No. 14 – despite spending the entire season in rehabilitation.
He injured his knee in November 2013 while on a training camp with the AFL-AIS Academy on the Gold Coast.
Like his fellow draftees, Lever has been eased into life as a full-time athlete but said his rehabilitation was "done and dusted".
"We do various amounts of drills when they're training, but the fitness staff are fantastic with that," Lever said.
"I haven't been restricted at all, I've done whatever the first-year players are meant to do.
"Probably the only thing I've been eased back into is the contact stuff, so me and big Harry Dear – he's coming back from injury as well – we've just been doing some contact work together.
"Playing round one is a long shot at the moment but if it does come true it'd be fantastic."
For a man who rates his competitiveness as his most important attribute, being able to train fully again is a luxury.
He said his desire to win was born of having two younger brothers and never wanting to be shown up.
Fuelling his combative spirit was an early interest in boxing as a teenager.
Lever said that although he was quick to point out his boxing was to improve his fitness rather than pander to a love of fighting.
"I just don't like getting beaten, I think that's the biggest thing," he said.
"I've got two younger brothers so I've always go to try and beat them.
"[Boxing] was purely for fitness, when you're 13 or 14 you don't want to do anything else other than football so I quit cricket and needed something else to keep fit."
The 193cm 18-year-old is a born leader and captained his Vic Metro side at the 2013 NAB AFL Under-18 Championships as a bottom-aged player.
While now one of Adelaide's youngest and most inexperienced players, Lever said he could still make the most of his leadership qualities.
Primarily, though, he's concentrating on finding his feet at his new club.
"It's definitely something I can bring to the club but I guess any first-year player that comes in is really focused on developing and getting the respect of the different players.
"That's really what I'm focused on and I think the leadership will hopefully come in time."
