Feeling refreshed after a sustained, injury-enforced stint on the sidelines, the 31-year-old is confident he can again be a potent weapon for the Magpies in 2009.
Despite coach Mick Malthouse saying he would be happy to get 15 games out of Rocca, the man himself is looking forward to playing a big role in his team’s quest for September glory.
“I feel good, I feel mentally fresh,” Rocca said from the MCG on Tuesday morning.
“I feel like a little kid again, like I’ve just come back into the system.
“You know I’ve missed a lot of football over last year and what a lot of people don’t realise [is] I played 22, 23 games the year before (in 2007), and a lot of people don’t seem to realise that.
"They think that I’ve missed two or three years, but I’ve only missed half of last year.
“So I’m feeling really good and ready to go.”
A serious ankle injury restricted Rocca to eight matches last season. This weekend he will play his first game since round 13 last year, although a return to senior action appears some way off.
“I’ve been running for probably a good six weeks now, so it’s not like I’m well underdone; I’m underdone with match time but I’ve been doing a fair bit of running and [I’ve] been doing a fair bit of training with the main group,” he said.
“So I am ready to go. I will be playing football somewhere this weekend but I’m unclear where I am playing at the moment.”
It has been a long battle back to fitness for the long-kicking Magpie and he admitted at times he pondered his place at the top level.
“We had our jumper presentation last night and I was driving in and I felt a little bit emotional,” Rocca said.
“At stages last year I probably thought that it was a long road back and I probably wouldn’t get back out there again.
“But it’s been a lot of hard work and rehabilitation and I’m feeling quite good about the team and about myself.”
Rocca said he thought it was likely to take three to five weeks before he reached peak match fitness, but once in shape he isn’t going to leave any stone unturned.
“Mick stated yesterday that I’d play around about 15 games and he’s probably right,” he said.
“I want to be playing my best footy towards the middle of the year and as a club we’re expecting to play in finals and I want to be cherry ripe going towards them.
“Once I get out on a football field I’m not going to play any lesser role; I’m going to be going full-steam ahead and if I have a good game then so be it, but if not I want to bring my other players into the game.
“That’s what it’s been about for myself every time I go out on a football field; it’s not about me. It’s about what I can give to the football team.”
Dream Team watch – Collingwood’s Anthony Rocca is rated a $240,700 forward in Toyota AFL Dream Team 2009.
