The courageous 24-year-old has had a disappointing second season of AFL, playing only one game so far, but Lyon said there were reasons behind that.
“At the start of the year he was down to about 70 per cent leg strength in his left leg, so he has been rebuilt,” he said on 6PR.
“Even over the summer he was only able to do 80 per cent of the program.”
The senior coach was looking forward to putting Silvagni through a full pre-season heading into 2013.
“I am really excited about him getting a full summer and plenty of work into his body,” Lyon said.
“He has put on 3kg over the year. He needs to be more powerful, so we want to get him up to 95 or 96kg so he can handle the big guys.
“He is a big part of our future we’d like to think.”
