Versatile midfielder Darcy Tucker feels he is back to full fitness as he approaches his return to full training following the Christmas break

After missing the first half of pre-season due to a stress fracture in his foot sustained in Fremantle’s round 23 clash with Collingwood, Tucker took part in Monday’s time trial and has been cleared to be reintroduced with a gradual build into full training.

“I had a couple of months off running and then built up before Christmas. I joined the main group on Monday for the first time which was very exciting,” Tucker said. 

“It’s good to be back and I’ll just get monitored from now and keep building up into footy training. I’ll get a good block of training in for the season, so I should be good to go.” 

Tucker said he worked hard on his fitness during this period to ensure that he didn't lose ground on his teammates.

“I did as much as I could with the bike and swimming and stuff like. They set a good program for me over the off-season and I was able to maintain a fair bit of fitness,” Tucker said. 

“I don’t think (I’m behind) I’m confident I can get a good block of training in before the season and be as fit as I was last year and keep improving.” 

Tucker spent the majority of his time in rehab with new teammate Jesse Hogan, who is working his way back from a similar injury.

Tucker is hopeful the talented forward will be joining him in full training in the coming weeks.

“I spent a fair bit of time in rehab with Jesse before Christmas,” Tucker said.

“He’s going really well as well. He’s got no soreness or anything like that so he’ll be looking to build into football training in the next few weeks which is good.”

Tucker added that he and his teammates have all developed closer bonds following the training camp in the Gold Coast prior to Christmas.

“It was a really good opportunity for us to bond as a team and switch it up a bit,” Tucker said.

“We had a full structured week similar to what we do here, but it was a change of scenery.

“We had that time together, especially with all of our new recruits and draftees, so it was very good to gel for the week and we feel a lot closer as a team which is great.”