A deal brokered with his AFL coach Leon Cameron is paying off for GWS defender Aidan Corr.
Highly valued for his ability to play on small and tall forwards, Corr missed 13 games and only returned in round 22.
He was determined to regain fitness in time for the finals after long-term injuries put paid to his chances in 2016 and 2018.
In 2016, Corr suffered an ankle injury which put him out for 16 games and though he returned late in the season, couldn't force his way back into the team for the finals.
Last year, a groin injury forced him out of the Giants' last eight games and he didn't play until round six this year.
His injury woes struck again in his second match back.
He recovered from a one-week ankle injury but couldn't resume playing because of a calf strain.
"I could have played through but I probably would have broke down before finals," Corr said in the leadup to Saturday's match with Brisbane.
"We took a bit of a conservative approach, I really worried about another recurrence.
"I was actually quite stressed about missing out again. I made a deal with Leon at the start of the year.
'I said 'we're going to take our time with these sorts of things, and I'm not missing finals again' and at one point I thought I was going to miss it again.
"It was tough, but trust in the physios, the new rehab coordinators we've got here and it was incredible, I got back."
Much of his rehab was done alongside the luckless Brett Deledio, who has suffered over 30 calf issues in his three seasons with GWS and went down again in last weekend's elimination final.
"He's helped me through little things, he understands the frustrations," Corr said.
"You can barely feel it which is the worst thing, From day-to-day you feel like you're fine, you feel like 'I can play,' but when you start running, you can feel it."
With Corr, Sam Taylor and Nick Haynes all recently returning from injury, GWS have a full strength backline unit available for their finals campaign.
"It just makes it super comfortable out there ... you know what the boys are going to do," he said.
Corr said GWS had a very flexible backline with most players able to take small and tall forwards, something which will serve them well against a dangerous Brisbane forward unit.
"They've got plenty of threats, you stop one another one gets off the chain," Corr said.
Australian Associated Press
