Alongside seven of his teammates, Alex Pearce returned to the club on Monday confident of a big year in 2018.

The defender broke his right leg in round nine of the 2016 season and, after eighteen months on the sidelines, was reluctant to declare he would walk back into the side for round one.

Due to the long lay-off from the game, the 22-year-old is instead looking forward to a reintroduction into football through the JLT Series.

“I’d hopefully be playing football before then, ideally,” Pearce said.

“At the moment it’s about getting back to training for a start.

“I haven’t trained since round eight 2016 so to be able to get out there with the boys and kick a footy around, it will be a huge milestone for me so I’m really looking forward to that.

“The aim is to definitely play more football this year and get back early on.”

Pearce said he’s prepared for a tough road back to the AFL but isn’t putting a ceiling on who he can become as a player.

“It’s always a bit of an unknown, it’s part and parcel about being out this long as nothing’s certain,” Pearce said.

“I’m preparing myself mentally to work really hard to get through this pre-season when I start playing again.

“My goal isn’t to be the player I was before, it’s to be better than that and keep improving.”

With the plate removed, Pearce said he is looking forward to being unrestricted by his injury.

“With any injury, you never know what’s going to happen,” Pearce said.

“My surgeons and doctors, they say it’ll be 100 per cent strong and it’ll never happen again, so I trust them and I know that I’ll be fine.”