Fremantle midfielder Hayden Young has revealed fresh details about his recovery from a leg fracture suffered in Freo’s final game of 2024.

Prior to the Christmas break, Young copped a ‘really nasty’ knock to the same bone he had broken, causing the 23-year-old to question whether he was facing a second break in his leg.

“I had a little hiccup pre-Christmas which was frustrating… I just got a knock on the bone that I broke in the last game of last year so I couldn’t do much about it,” Young told media on Monday afternoon.

“Luckily it didn’t re-fracture, it was just a bit of bone bruising, so I just had to stay off it for a couple of weeks and build up slowly.

“It was tricky because when I did it the first time I didn’t think I’d broken it, I thought I just had a corky, so yeah this time it was a little bit scary.”

Despite the scare, Young explained that the incident only proved how well his bone had healed from the original break as he hits the ground running for 2025.

“I thought it felt similar but luckily, I escaped without a fracture which is a good sign that the bone healed really well and took a really nasty knock and was able to withstand it, although there was a bit of bruising it was still a good result,” Young said.

“We’re just managing my loads over the next few weeks so I can continue training and get some match sim under my belt, but yes, (I’m) travelling really well.

“I was able to have some time off over the Christmas break, so I was able to build my loads up so now I’ve been able to hit the ground running.”

While Monday’s training session marked Young’s first official main session since recovering from the bone bruising, he remained aware of how much work still needs to be put in before round one arrives.

“It's always hard, you can do as much cross-training as you like but when you get back into full training you never feel like you’re fit enough,” Young explained.

“I’m just sort of taking it training by training, trying not to think too far ahead and just working on getting through each session.

“I feel like I’ve gotten fitter and stronger each session and I’m not looking too far ahead, there’s still a bit of work to do to get back to that match fitness but I’m pretty happy that I’m back out there running around in full training because that’s all I can do at the moment.”

Fremantle’s first official pre-season match will be the the 2025 Toyota AFL Indigenous All Stars match on Saturday 15 February at Optus Stadium.