After a career ravaged by a recurring left knee injury, Anthony Morabito will make his playing return to the AFL in Saturday’s match against Melbourne in Darwin.

It will have been 1394 days since Morabito last played for Fremantle in the 2010 Semi-Final against Geelong at the MCG.

But the waiting is over for the 22-year-old, and the way he found out he’d be playing on Thursday morning will stay with him forever.

“After training, Ross Lyon called everyone in,” Morabito said.

“His last point was that I was in. I was a little bit shocked.

“All the boys were really happy, they embraced me. I was quite emotional at the time and I’ll cherish that moment.”

Morabito was quick to call home in Harvey to inform his parents.

“I gave dad a quick phone call,” he said.

“It was quite a special moment for me, personally.”

The fourth pick in the 2009 AFL draft has undergone two conventional knee reconstructions and a hybrid LARS surgery.

He said ‘without a doubt’, playing even the one game made all the countless hours of rehab worth it.

“When you’ve missed a lot of footy, especially at the top level, you’d give anything just to walk down that race one time,” Morabito said.

“I’m fortunate that I’m young enough and the club has obviously helped me out greatly with the approach we took to everything.

“To come back now and have the opportunity to actually do it is quite exciting.”

Morabito was also very happy to share his comeback game with good friend and fellow Peel Thunder product Hayden Ballantyne in his 100th game.

“To share the occasion with ‘Ballas’ in his 100th is quite special,” he said.

The other emotions Morabito has felt since finding out he’d be playing have been relief and pride.

“It’s obviously something that I’ve been putting a lot of hard work towards, and when you actually get there it’s a relief and I’m just really proud to be able to go down the race with the boys I’ve been training with for the past three years,” he said.

When Morabito last played AFL he was a first-year player just figuring out the ropes in the big league.

He hoped that more than three years away from the elite level had helped him pick up a few more things.

“I’m 23 now, I’m not an 18-year-old kid,” Morabito said.

“I’d like to think I’m more mature. Being able to watch from the sidelines also gives you a good perspective on other players.”

As for Saturday’s game, Morabito has no idea how he will feel when Matthew Pavlich leads the team out of the change rooms.

“It’s something that I really, really missed, and something that, at stages through your rehab, you don’t think you’re going to get there again,” he said.

“I’m just really happy and excited that I’m actually going to do it and my dream is becoming a reality again.”