Star Collingwood midfielder Dayne Beams back running as he eyes 2020 season
Collingwood returned to training on Monday, with star Pie Dayne Beams all smiles as he hit the track carrying a best-selling self-help book as he eyes a return from injuries and a mental health battle.
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Dayne Beams is back running as his recovery from hip surgery and a mental health battle continues.
The Collingwood star’s season ended after the surgery, when he took indefinite leave to deal with his mental health.
The Magpies’ young players — plus skipper Scott Pendlebury and tall Mason Cox — returned to training on Monday but it was well after their session that Beams hit the track.
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He had earlier met with fans on his arrival at the club, clutching a copy of best-selling book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life.
The Mark Manson-penned book is described by the author as “the self-help book for people who hate self-help … the first truly no BS guide to flourishing in a crazy, crazy world”.
Beams has been training on and off at the club after a recent trip to Kokoda where he completed a 96km trek over eight days.
Beams — who has not trained fully for four months — ran in warm conditions at the Holden Centre, more than two hours after his younger teammates completed a two-hour session under the eye of coach Nathan Buckley.
He is contracted until the end of 2022 and is understood to be eyeing a return to AFL football next season.
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Pies Tom Phillips and Chris Mayne engaged in running and match drills. Delisted defender Lynden Dunn — who was sporting an impressive mullett — ran laps as he eyes a spot on the club’s rookie list.
Darcy Cameron — who landed at Collingwood in the recent trade period — admitted the session forced players to hit the ground running.
“It was pretty intense to start off my time at Collingwood, but it was good to finally have a crack and see all the boys,” he said.
Cameron, 24, said he did not anticipate wrenching the top tap role from star ruck Brodie Grundy, but said there would be healthy competition with Cox for a forward role that offered support.
“Obviously they’ve got the No. 1 ruck role set in stone, but I would like to explore my time down forward and see if I could do that,” Cameron said.
“I really enjoy that position and if it means I can give Brodie Grundy a chop-out in the ruck, that’d be good.”
Originally published as Star Collingwood midfielder Dayne Beams back running as he eyes 2020 season