AFL 2024: All the latest pre-season injury news, Zac Williams pushing for opening round return

Zac Williams is ready to put a year from hell behind him as he aims to draw on the pain of losing two of the closest people in his life while battling back from an ACL injury.

Carlton defender Zac Williams says he is excited to make an early-season return to the football field after enduring “a year to forget” in 2023.

Twelve months on from rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament during pre-season, Williams is back in full training and has just a few more boxes to tick before he is cleared to play his first competitive match since 2022.

The 29-year-old said it had been a “lonely place” in the rehabilitation group last year, as he watched the Blues go through early-season struggles before surging to a preliminary final.

However, Williams said he was approaching the coming season with a “new year, new me” mentality and was confident he could play a significant role back in the side.

“(There’s) bigger and better things to come this year, I think,” he said.

“I’m back into full training, I’m sort of transitioning into full contact in certain drills.

“I’m doing all the match play and stuff at the moment, which is a good indicator that I’m on the right path for the start of the year.

“I just want to get back playing footy, whether that’s in the AFL side with the boys or in the VFL side with the boys. I’m pretty excited just to get back and play some footy.”

Zac Williams goes down injured in 2022.

While many of his teammates ventured overseas during the off-season, Williams opted to stay at home and continue his rehabilitation.

“I made a pretty big commitment not to go on holiday or go overseas,” Williams said on Carlton’s Summer Sessions podcast.

“I stayed around Melbourne for pretty much the majority of my break and made sure I was in any training to give myself the best opportunity to get back into pre-season when I needed to, but also to put myself in the best position to come back as early as possible.”

Along with the knee injury last year, Williams’ grandmother died and his sister Samantha lost her battle with cancer.

“My sister played a big part in getting me to where I am today,” he said.

“That first game back, whenever it is, I’ll be definitely wearing a black armband for her and I’ll probably wear it all year, to be honest, for her and take her out with me all year.

“I’ve got a lot of motivation this year coming from knee rehab stuff, but also personal stuff as well.”

TIGERS STAR SUFFERS ANOTHER HAMSTRING SETBACK

— Josh Barnes

Dion Prestia will miss Richmond’s first pre-season hitout against Melbourne but should play in opening round after scans confirmed he suffered a hamstring strain during match simulation this week.

Prestia left an intra-club hitout on Wednesday night complaining of soreness in his hamstring.

He has been diagnosed with a minor strain and ruled out of a match simulation clash with Melbourne on February 18.

Dion Prestia fires a handball. Picture: Jason Edwards

The veteran midfielder could still play in February 26’s community series clash with Collingwood and should recover in time to face his old side Gold Coast in opening round on March 9.

“Dion unfortunately had some hamstring awareness early in Wednesday’s match simulation, which, following scans, we have decided will require a short rehabilitation period,” Richmond’s fitness boss Luke Meehan said.

“We anticipate he will be back training fully in a couple of weeks.”

Three-time flag winner Prestia has been dogged by hamstring woes in previous years but had a relatively clean run of fitness last year.

The 31-year-old had been carefully managed through pre-season and often pulled out of drills to join the rehab group in a bid to guide his body.

Champion Tiger Dustin Martin played just one quarter of Wednesday’s hitout in a plan to protect his body and dominated during the time he was on field.