Tory Dickson left behind the long road of rehabilitation on Sunday, when the medium forward made his long awaited return to the Footscray Bulldogs in the VFL.

After a few nervous contests, Dickson was able to relax into the game and put the pectoral injury that had sidelined him for ten weeks to the back of his mind, contributing two goals in an encouraging return to football.

“I felt pretty fit so I guess the medical staff and fitness staff have done a good job in my rehab,” Dickson said.

“I felt it [in the last quarter] but it was good to get a good win and get back with the boys.

“There was just a touch of hesitation with the first tackles but after the first couple of contests I got some confidence up.

“I think there was only one where I stretched out with my left arm a little bit apprehensively but I got through it alright and I’m really happy with it.”

Another benefit to his time on the injury list was the opportunity to analyse streams of match vision to better gauge the player he wants to become – unselfish, team-oriented and ruthless.

“I watched a lot of AFL games in my rehab and watched specific players and just the unselfishness of a lot of them,” he said.

“I took a bit out of that – the workrate, team defence, just do everything I can for the team so the team plays better… and hopefully the rest will take care of itself.”

While at times challenged by the isolation of his rehabilitation program, the forward stuck to the task, drawing on his experiences in 2013 when plagued by a foot injury.

Now rehabilitated, Dickson is happy to once again be taking part in the main training session and games each week.

“Coming in [to work] and everyone is talking about such a good win on the weekend and you have to do your 40 minute bike and your running and break it all down,” he said.

“[It was hard] just getting through the week-to-week rehab… I am very happy to be back.”

Dickson wasn’t just restricted to the four walls of the kennel during rehabilitation however, using long walks to add variety to his training program before he could intensify his work outs.

“Just getting out of the place and going on some long walks, power walks and there was a lot of bikes involved,” he said.

“I had to be in a sling for six weeks so I couldn’t do much from the upper body side of things but the lower body reaped the benefits.

“We did a dexa-scan and I put a good kilo on in muscle on each leg.”