Luke Dahlhaus said that if there is any silver lining to the season ending injury suffered by Tom Liberatore in early 2015, it was the chance it gave other young Dogs to step into the engine room and make their mark.

“It was really good for me and Mitch and Caleb, and all the young boys coming through to get some midfield time.  I really enjoyed it, [but] it’ll be awesome to get him back.

“He actually let other people get a touch for once, which is good.  He’s always got the ball in his hands.”

With Liberatore on schedule to return in Round 1, Dahlhaus won’t be giving up his spot in the midfield easily, doing extra work over the offseason break to make sure he came back in the best possible shape.

“I’ve gone away in the offseason, obviously had pretty good break, but tried to build on my fitness that I built in the last preseason, so hopefully I’ve come back a bit fitter and better and can spend most of my time in the midfield while hopefully going up forward as well. “

Dahlhaus had a career best season in 2015, averaging 25 disposals, three marks and five tackles a game, including a 32 touch, four mark, one goal performance against the Demons in round 20. 

Dahlhaus was also one of only two Dogs to play all 23 games for the year, something he puts down to his body adjusting to the demands of AFL footy and the quality of the support staff at Victoria University Whitten Oval.

“I think the physios and the myos (myotherapists) that we’ve got in the last couple of years are excellent the way they handle our bodies and get us up for games, so with their help and all of the staff, and also just doing extra recovery.

“I’m probably getting a bit more mature with all of the preseasons I’ve done now, my body’s getting used to AFL.  I was lucky enough to play every game so hopefully  I can do that again next year.”