Dion Prestia is ready to go for 2020 and wants to play in State of Origin game

Dion Prestia is out of the rehabilitation group and he’s itching to get out on the field. The reigning best-and-fairest has been on coach Damien Hardwick case, but it’s not about Round 1.

Dion Prestia won Richmond’s best-and-fairest last season. Picture: Getty Images

• Is Tom Lynch an ‘average’ player?
• King stars as Saints pre-season heats up
• Luckless Dee’s concussion nightmare

Every time Dion Prestia has bumped into Damien Hardwick during the past month, he’s asked the same question.

“C’mon, am I going to get picked?”

Watch every match of the Marsh Community Series AFL pre-season comp LIVE & On-Demand on KAYO. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >

He’s not talking Round 1, rather the AFL’s State of Origin for Bushfire Relief match on February 28.

As the premier’s reigning best-and-fairest, the Richmond midfielder ­reckons he should be a shoo-in to be one of the three Tigers ­required for the Victorian team.

But Hardwick, the Victorian coach, has refused to give him any guarantees.

“I thought I was in with a chance with Dimma being coach and all,” Prestia said.

“Every time I walk past him I always say, ‘C’mon, am I going to get picked?’ You can only have three players from each team and he’s got a few good ones to pick from (at Richmond) that might get picked ahead of me.

“I think I should get first dibs, really. Dustin (Martin) will probably get picked before me. Maybe Jack (Riewoldt) can have the week off and play in Wangaratta (for a pre-season match), though.

“But if I get asked to I will absolutely want to jump at that opportunity.”

Dion Prestia is eager to take part in the State of Origin game. Picture: Mark Stewart

Prestia’s availability for the Marvel Stadium match is good news for Tigers fans, given the 27-year-old has spent a fair portion of pre-season in the club’s rehabilitation group.

Prestia produced his ­remarkable 2019 season and won his first Jack Dyer Medal despite battling an achilles issue in the second half of the year.

Fighting through the injury, he managed to play all 25 games and averaged a career-high 27.4 disposals, along with 4.9 inside-50s, 6.5 score ­involvements and 4.9 tackles.

“I haven’t been with the main group for the entire pre-season because I carried achilles soreness throughout most of the back end of last year,” he said.

“We pushed my program back a bit more to give me more time off after the season finished and it’s been more of a slow build-up for me.”

Prestia has ramped up his program in the past few weeks, joining the gruelling pre-season camp on the Gold Coast.

“The humidity and the heat was absolutely terrible,” he said.

Richmond midfielder Dion Prestia has returned to full training after spending much of summer in the rehabilitation group. Picture: AAP

Like 14 current teammates, Prestia played in a second premiership in three years for the Tigers last year.

But he is hungry for more and has seen enough over summer to suggest the rest of the playing group is, too.

“In training, even just the last few weeks, our defence is so good and in-your-face,” Prestia said.

The term “dynasty” has been thrown around in the conversation about Richmond since Hardwick’s side crushed Greater Western Sydney by 89 points on Grand Final day.

Former Brisbane Lions coach Leigh Matthews, who led the Lions to a three-peat of flags from 2001-03, says a dynasty requires three premierships in “a relatively confined period of time”.

“You look at dynasties and think about Brisbane when Leigh (Matthews) was coaching them and Hawthorn of the early 2010s,” Prestia said.

“We’re so lucky to have been able to play in one premiership, let alone two. If we can get another one it would be absolutely amazing.”

Originally published as Dion Prestia is ready to go for 2020 and wants to play in State of Origin game