Ryan Crowley's 2009 AFL season was ruined by a serious foot injury - so why does the Fremantle tagger feel he got lucky?

Crowley's '09 campaign was brought to a halt in round six when he fractured his foot during the Dockers' derby win over West Coast.

After undergoing scans, the 25-year-old feared his career might head the same way as Hawthorn's Trent Croad, who has not played since injuring his foot in the 2008 grand final.

But thankfully for Crowley his recovery, although lengthy, has been more successful and the niggling tagger declared he was well on track for a round one return.

"Initially I'd thought that I'd broken my foot going into the scan and when I heard that I hadn't I was happy," Crowley reflected on Monday.

"But then I found out it was probably going to mean I was out for longer in the end.

"It ended up being pretty complicated.

"The injury ... was the same sort of injury that Trent Croad had so that was a little bit worrying with the amount of time he's been out for.

"But I couldn't be happier with how it's going at the moment."

Crowley has been blitzing the time trials at Fremantle training and said he was feeling as fit as ever.

"That's sort of my strength so I've just got to make sure that it's up to standard," he said.

"I didn't want it to drop off after my injury.

"Being a lower limb injury I wasn't able to do a lot of running last year so I just wanted to make sure I came back in good nick."

Crowley ensured his time on the sidelines wasn't spend moping about, helping 19-year-old rookie Matt de Boer fill the void left by his own absence.

"I was just helping him out, sort of talking tactics and that sort of stuff," Crowley said.

"He's a great kid and he's one of the most professional guys down at the club already and I'm sure if he keeps it up he'll be a really good player for a long time."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP