AS A CHILD, Craig Bird would don his Sydney Swans jumper with Paul Kelly's No. 14 on the back and hope that one day he would run on to the SCG wearing the famous number for the Swans.

Remarkably, that hope turned into reality in 2007 when he was drafted by the Swans and handed the No. 14 guernsey, which the club had not used since Kelly had retired in 2002.

"I was a little bit taken back by it to be honest," Bird said of the honour.

"I watched the Swans a fair bit growing up living in Sydney and then in Nelson Bay (in northern NSW).

"Paul Kelly was definitely one of my favourite players growing up, with Tony Lockett.

"Everyone wanted to wear the 14 and four (Lockett's number) as kids. They were the two biggest names at the Swans back then."

Bird made his debut the following year and his career was unfolding just as he had foreseen. He played 36 games in 2008-09, emerging as a tough and talented tagging option.

What Bird didn't envisage, however, was an injury problem that would plague him for the next 18 months.

In February last year, Bird was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his left foot.

After spending three months on the sidelines, he returned through the reserves before being picked for his first AFL game of that season, in round 11.

He managed just four appearances, however, before the injury flared again, ending his season in round 14.

Medical staff at the Swans discovered the structure of Bird's feet made him susceptible to fracturing the fifth metatarsal bone on the outside of his foot.

It is a common sporting injury that has also struck English Premier League players Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney and New Zealand rugby union captain Richie McCaw.

The nature of Bird's problem, and the fact he was a young player just making his way in the AFL, made it a frustrating time to say the least.

He had yet another setback with his troublesome foot during the pre-season, which forced him to sit out round-one this year.

"It's been extremely challenging for him," Swans physiotherapist Matt Cameron said.

"Whenever anyone gets a chronic injury that doesn't necessarily have a fixed recovery time, which those stress fractures or stress injuries are, it can be really frustrating.

"If you're out for say 12 weeks, you can get your head around that. Those injuries are a bit easier to deal with.

"But when you're waiting for something to heal and improve enough, and then it recurs, we had to (end) his season early because of it and then you've got to sit around and wait for another pre-season. It's definitely a challenge."

Bird was in danger of breaking the metatarsal bone in half, Cameron said, which would have had far longer-term consequences.

The 22-year-old was put on a modified training and monitoring program and given customised boots - and so far the results have been encouraging.

"He returned to the pre-season and we built him up gradually and were constantly monitoring how the stress was going through his foot," Cameron said.

"This bone sometimes doesn't heal, so you might have to have surgery, bone grafts, all sorts of things when it does break. It's the sort of injury that you have to let heal itself.

"In the pre-season, it reared its head again and we had to keep him on fairly light duties in preparation for the season.

"There was a danger he wouldn't be physically prepared enough elsewhere in his body for the season.

"But we've been able to slowly increase it since then from round one, when he wasn't doing a lot of training, building his game-time and his training load.

"Now he's not far off doing the full training load and has no problems whatsoever and is approaching the full load of an AFL player of his age. That's taken well over 18 months of gradual loading."

Bird's modified boots have an insert that spreads the load away from the outside of his foot and towards other areas.

Using them has had the desired result, with Bird missing just one game since round one, a minor knee injury keeping him out of the round 16 match against Gold Coast.

Bird admitted he had been surprised by how his foot had responded in 2011.

"It's been fine, no problems at all. It's been managed really well this year, which is a bit of a surprise," he said.

"Earlier in the year, I wasn't sure how it would go, but it's been good and I'm really happy with it.

"I've got the system right now with my boots and the training schedule, so I've been able to work it pretty well.

"Last year was probably the most frustrating year since I've been with the Swans, and I played only four games.

"So this year's been really good. To play nearly all the games and really contribute to the side has been good. I'm really happy with how things are going."

Cameron believes there is no reason why Bird can't have a long AFL career.

"Absolutely. The bone has healed, he's virtually back to full training load and, as long as we manage him carefully and don't overdo it, he's certainly shown on a limited preparation he can compete in the AFL," he said.

"He's a very good patient. There would be plenty of other players who'd get frustrated and grumpy and so on, but you hardly ever saw that side of him.

"His approach was first-class. He never let it get him down too much."

One man who has seen first-hand what Bird has dealt with is teammate Rhyce Shaw.

When Shaw was traded from Collingwood to the Swans at the end of 2008, he moved in with Bird and they lived together for two years.

Shaw has enormous respect for the way his good mate has handled himself while trying to overcome the serious injury.

"It was pretty hard on the kid. Obviously, he's still young, but it seems like he's been around for a while," Shaw said.

"He's only 22 and, to have those problems he had last year, it was pretty hard on him.

"He kept trying to come back and every time he got close, it'd flare up again.

"From where he's come from, it's been a pretty good effort to play the kind of footy he's playing this year.

"It's a pretty cut-throat industry and there's always a fair bit of pressure on guys to play well and to come back from injuries quickly and get games into them.

"His attitude towards his injuries has been fantastic and I suppose, with his limited pre-season this year, it shows how professional he has become.

"'Birdy' kind of goes unnoticed, but he's such a good player and we rely pretty heavily on him to do those tagging jobs.

"He's going to be a good player for us for a long time."

Bird was a two-time All Australian at under-18 level, but still had a little trouble getting noticed as he tried to make the move from promising junior to AFL player.

"I played under-18s and had a pretty good year as a 17-year-old with the (NSW/ACT) RAMS and thought I might've been a chance for the 2006 draft," he said.

But Bird stuck with it. He soon had the rare luxury of knowing exactly what was going to happen at the draft in 2007.

"I was overlooked that year (2006) and then moved to Sydney on a scholarship and I knew before the (2007) draft the Swans were going to pick me up. They did, with selection No. 59.

"I was already doing pre-season training before the draft, so it was a great feeling once they told me. I was pretty excited and couldn't wait to ring up Dad and tell him.

"The nerves were taken out of it that day.

"It (going in the draft) can be nerve-racking. I'd done it the year before and I missed out, which was pretty shattering.

"So it was good to know before the draft the year after."

Once he knew his immediate future was secure with the Swans, Bird was then stunned when he was handed the famous No. 14, which long before 1995 Brownlow medallist Kelly wore it in the bulk of his 234 games was carried 237 times by another great Swan, three-time Brownlow medallist Bob Skilton.

Bird admitted he had to think twice about accepting the honour.

"I knew the number hadn't been worn for a couple of years and obviously Kelly and Skilton were the two biggest names to wear it," he said.

"I didn't know what to do. I spoke to a few of the coaches and they gave me their opinions and said the number had to be given to someone at some stage.

"They said to look at it as an honour and take pride in wearing it. They told me not to worry about the pressure that comes with it.

"I took that on board and ended up receiving the jumper, which was nice. And I certainly take great pride in wearing it.

"There were definitely times when I thought, 'Gee, I don't know about this, do I really deserve it? I haven't really played much footy yet'."

Shaw believes Bird, who has played 57 games, is justifying the faith shown in him by the club's hierarchy.

"To get that number is a pretty big honour at our club," Shaw said.

"The fact the coaches had such confidence in him to come straight into the side off limited preparation (this season) is a tribute to how talented he is and what he means to us."

One clear gap in Bird's resume is finals action.

A groin injury kept him out of the finals in his first year at the club in 2008, when Sydney beat North Melbourne in the second elimination final before losing to the Western Bulldogs in the second semi-final.

The Swans' hold on a position in the eight has slipped, with consecutive losses to Essendon at Etihad Stadium in round 20 and Richmond at the MCG last weekend.

But they still control their fate and face a critical game this Sunday, against St Kilda at ANZ Stadium.

Bird said he was desperate for finals action.

"In my first year, I played every game and then got injured in the last round before the finals," he said.

"Then the second year, we didn't make the finals and, last year, I played only four games.

"So, hopefully, this year we can finish the season off well and get to play finals."

Bird said he found it difficult watching his teammates fight through the early part of the finals last year without being involved.

The Swans defeated Carlton in a superb elimination final on the opening week of the series before losing a heart-breaker to the Bulldogs at the MCG in what was co-captain Brett Kirk's last game.

"They went so close to making a preliminary final and it's something I want to be part of," he said.

"We've been in the eight for virtually the whole season. We were pushing for a top-four spot for a while, but a couple of losses lately have hurt us a bit.

"Hopefully, we can finish the season off well and cement our spot in there and have a crack once the finals come around."